> Ok, looks as though it's time for a manually-installed version of > python to upgrade portage, then a portage-installed python:2.6 to > bootstrap your way towards modernity. > > This is all explained here: > http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/portage/doc/manually-fixing-portage.xml > > This may also help > http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-5578709.html
That last one mentioned --nodeps which gave me an idea. I did 'emerge -pv python' then emerged all of the packages listed with --nodeps so portage wouldn't complain. Portage wouldn't work after that until I switched back to python:2.5 with eselect. Then I emerged portage to the latest version (which switched back to python:2.6) and I'm hoping I can make some good progress before I come crying back to you guys again. - Grant
