emerge --backtrack オプションの信用性ってどうなの？

It may be possible to solve this problem by using package.mask to
prevent one of those packages from being selected. However, it is also
possible that conflicting dependencies exist such that they are
impossible to satisfy simultaneously.  If such a conflict exists in
the dependencies of two different packages, then those packages can
not be installed simultaneously. You may want to try a larger value of
the --backtrack option, such as --backtrack=30, in order to see if
that will solve this conflict automatically.

For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man
page or refer to the Gentoo Handbook.

最近になってこれをよく見かけるようになったけど --backtrack オプションって信用できるのか？　よく理解できないままエラーだけクリアされていくのはちょっと怖いな。後々大きなトラブルになってしまいそうな気がする。