Nvidia blob fails to emerge: Pax Patches [Solved]

[StevenC21]

Hello all! New to Gentoo and the NVIDIA proprietary blob isn't emerging properly. It complains about "Pax patches" and a "nonstandard kernel", but I am using the standard gentoo ~amd64 4.20 kernel (the rest of my system is still on stable).

Here is the emerge output once the errors start:

[Muso]

Which profile are you using?

[StevenC21]

Profile 19.

[Naib]

415.23 is needed to build against kernel-4.20
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

[StevenC21]

How do I get it?

I'm sorry I know very, very little about Gentoo and Portage.

[Naib]

I guess you are running stable, you will need to unmask it or wait until it goes stable

echo =11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-415.23 >> /etc/portage/package.unmask

ALTHOUGH if you have kernel-4.20 installed AND selected, you must have unmasked that.
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

[StevenC21]

I am indeed running stable.

Is it unsafe to unmask it? I have heard that unmasked packages are unsupported.

In addition, will this package update as normal to later versions? It appears I am installing an explicit version, which is confusing.

[Naib]

At some point you must have unmasked gentoo-sources as 4.20 is marked as ~arch
https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/sys-kernel/gentoo-sources

As to whether unmasking is safe? what do you class as unsafe? Mixing stable and ~arch causes alot of headaches and it is usually easier to go one or the other but you are already doing this with gentoo-sources.

where did you hear you wouldn't get support if you went ~arch? As long as it is in the tree you will get support on bugzilla. If you have a problem with any package you will generally get help on the gentoo forums.

The one-liner I posted EXPLICITLY unmasked one version rather than wildcarded all nvidia-drivers as they come in. I don't know what you plan with your machine so make hte assumption you want to always go testing isn't mine to ask. You will still get later versions WHEN they go stable. If you want the latest nvidia-drivers, even the testing ones, then the unmask file needs changing to make it non-versioned.
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

[StevenC21]

I honestly don't know much about Gentoo's method of going about this. I think that perhaps going full testing would be good? If I don't am I in the Gentoo version of a frankendebian? I don't want that.

Anyways, I will definitely be unmasking that package now. Thanks.

[StevenC21]

In addition, did you mean "x11-drivers"? Or actually "=11-drivers"?

[StevenC21]

Gosh, I'm so sorry for the triple post.

Anyways, that recommendation did not work. Instead, I have added

[Naib]

sorry, incorrect copy-paste and yes I meant to keyword not unmask (packages are masked for a reason).
Running low on coffee but it looks like you have it
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

[StevenC21]

Alright. Thank you friend! I have started my emerge and am hoping for a success.

I have so much to learn about Portage and Gentoo. Its an amazing journey.

[StevenC21]

A similar error has arisen...

[StevenC21]

Oh, and unmasking packages is unsupported...

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:X86/Portage/Branches#Masked_packages

[hhfeuer]

You probably have USE=pax_kernel set.
Check using
emerge -pv nvidia-drivers

[StevenC21]

Solved!

I realized that my package.use directory had pax_kernel enabled as a USE flag, which was messing it up. The driver is now installed. Thank you for all the support guys!

Quick edit: For the record, I had not seen the post directly above me when I was typing this.