On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:51:35 -0400 "WLM" == William L Maltby CentOS4Bill@triad.rr.com wrote:
WLM> WARNING! Due to my background, I don't often read man pages WLM> like I used to. So there may be some inaccuracies or WLM> ambiguities below.
WLM> On Thu, 2008-06-26 at 11:58 +0200, Bernhard Gschaider wrote: >> <snip>
>> Sorry. Stupid question again: and if I find inconsistencies, >> then the
WLM> Keep in mind that *some* inconsistencies are expected. Local WLM> config files being one good example. You must look at the WLM> codes displayed in the output, and possibly the files, to be WLM> sure it is really a discrepancy.
I know. I compared with the verify-output from a working machine. For my theory ("there are different rpm-packages on the disk than in the rpm-database") to be right there should be a large amounts of files with wrong MD5-sums. And there is only a handful for which this is the case (and they seem mostly harmless)
>> only way to force rpm to correct them yould be something like >> >> yum remove offendingPackage yum install offendingPackage >> >> or the equivalent rpm-commands?
WLM> Not the only way, but probably the safest. However, that may WLM> try to also remove some dependencies, depending on the WLM> package you're trying to remove.
Yep. That's what I was afraid of
WLM> I seem to recall a "force" parameter that is available for WLM> rpm and yum. Although normally disparaged, this is a perfect WLM> situation for its use.
It exists in RPM, but in yum it is notoriously absent
>> Currently the machine behaves quite strange: - Boots OK - Lets >> users log in and most applications work - Firefox works only >> for root - yumex hangs at starting
WLM> Depending on your time-frame, this may be a symptom of the WLM> load on the servers you access. Yesterday A.M. I saw *BIG* WLM> delays downloading the xml(?) files. But I use yum CLI, so I WLM> see the blood-n-guts on the screen. <BIAS> GUIs suck... in WLM> general</BIAS>
yum works. The problem according to an "strace yum" seems to be that it is poll-ing on something, but I don't know on what, because I don't get the arguments to that call, because it never finishes (last line just says "poll("
>> - "man rpm" says XXX WARNING: old character encoding and/or >> character set >> >> All this leads me to the conclusion that there are only some >> selected packages corrupt (and I don't want to reinstall the >> machine). Would Installing/Repairing from DVD help?
WLM> Maybe. But some of the rpms might be on your system from the WLM> update activities. Do and updatedb and then a locate WLM> .rpm. You may see some in /var/cache/yum. Subdirs under it WLM> might have what you need.
I'll try that. If it doesn't help I'll have to scratch the machine and install anew.
Thanks Bernhard