what does the following mean after and emerge --sync?
Performing Global Updates: /usr/portage/profiles/updates/2Q-2005
(Could take a couple of minutes if you have a lot of binary packages.)
.='update pass' *='binary update' @='/var/db move'
s='/var/db SLOT move' S='binary SLOT move'
p='update /etc/portage/package.*'
..........



** Skipping packages. Run 'fixpackages' or set it in FEATURES to fix the
tbz2's in the packages directory. Note: This can take a very long time.

I ran fixpackages and it went away for a while, but is now back.

Bigbob