Re: eselect profile list fails

On Wed, Jun 3, 2026 at 10:23=E2=80=AFAM Javier Martinez <[email protected]=
m> wrote:
>
> El 3/6/26 a las 16:16, John Blinka escribi=C3=B3:
> > On Wed, Jun 3, 2026 at 9:45=E2=80=AFAM Javier Martinez <tazok.id0@gmail=
.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> El 3/6/26 a las 15:40, John Blinka escribi=C3=B3:
> >>> Hello, everyone,
> >>>
> >>> Could use some help.
> >>>
> >>> eselect profile list gives this error on all my boxes:
> >>> !!! Error: Failed to get a list of valid profiles
> >>>
> >>> All boxes have identical setup, all are amd64.
> >>>
> >>> ls -l make.profile gives
> >>> make.profile ->
> >>> ../../var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop,
> >>> whose contents are:
> >>> eapi  gnome/  parent  plasma/  systemd/
> >>>
> >>> I run openrc and xfce4 with a smattering of rarely used gnome/kde/
> >>> apps. For the most part I run a stable system, with occasional use of
> >>> ~amd64. I keep up-to-date with portage. My systems have been very
> >>> stable, although I am wrestling with the recent python upgrade, with
> >>> sound support on one box, and the recent spate of kernel upgrades. Th=
e
> >>> problems with eselect profile list have existed for months and predat=
e
> >>> my current issues. This problem has just now arisen to the top of my
> >>> TODO list.
> >>>
> >>> The error message doesn't give me any guidance. The usual Googling
> >>> doesn't uncover much except recommendations to update portage, which =
I
> >>> do very regularly.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for any ideas on where to start looking!
> >>>
> >>> John Blinka
> >>>
> >>
> >> With a strace -f -o /tmp/output eselect profile list, in the output fi=
le
> >> you can get more info about why it's failing
> >
> > Thanks for the quick response, Javier!
> >
> > I'm rather unskilled at looking at such output, but, scrolling up from
> > the bottom and looking for system calls returning suspicious values, I
> > find
> >
> > 20071 wait4(-1, 0x7ffdd4a1f4d0, WNOHANG, NULL) =3D -1 ECHILD (No child =
processes)
> >
> > This condition seems to trigger subsequent
> > 20071 write(1, "\33[31m\33[1m!!! Error: \33(B\33[mFailed"..., 65) =3D 6=
5
> > and then
> > 20060 rt_sigreturn({mask=3D[CHLD]})       =3D -1 EINTR (Interrupted sys=
tem call)
> > which I'm guessing are just part of error recovery.
> >
> > I'm not enlightened by this. Probably my deficiency! ;)
> >
> > Is there another approach you can suggest?  For example, emerging a
> > clean copy of something that might correct whatever is wrong.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > John
> >
> In the output look for this kind of errors, EPERM, EACCES etc, post it
> here, if you find some suspicious send it here with their context (the
> lines above that) to be able to check what it's exactly doing it to die.
> Also you can send it as attachment.

Ah ha!
--> grep EACCESS output
20075 faccessat2(AT_FDCWD,
"/var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/profiles.desc", R_OK, AT_EACCESS) =3D 0
20075 faccessat2(AT_FDCWD,
"/var/db/repos/portage-crossdev/profiles/profiles.desc", R_OK,
AT_EACCESS) =3D -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
20075 faccessat2(AT_FDCWD,
"/var/db/repos/guru/profiles/profiles.desc", R_OK, AT_EACCESS) =3D -1
ENOENT (No such file or directory)
20075 faccessat2(AT_FDCWD,
"/var/db/repos/local/profiles/profiles.desc", R_OK, AT_EACCESS) =3D -1
ENOENT (No such file or directory)
20075 faccessat2(AT_FDCWD,
"/var/db/repos/science/profiles/profiles.desc", R_OK, AT_EACCESS) =3D -1
ENOENT (No such file or directory)

All of my additional repos are missing a required profiles.desc. I'll
have to reread how to add a repo.  Perhaps something has changed in
the past year or so.

You are always quite helpful. Thanks!

John