[CentOS] Re: Yet another yum/rpm update problem

Ralph Angenendt ra+centos at br-online.de
Wed Oct 4 09:05:00 UTC 2006


Blaž Bogataj wrote:
> rpmdb --initdb work for me

I really cannot let this statement stand on its own there. 

In the best case rpmdb --initdb does *not* do anything, because it sees
that there already is an rpmdb in place. See for yourself:

| [root at reboot ~]# ls -l /var/lib/rpm/
| total 29860
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm  4878336 Sep 27 00:58 Basenames
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    12288 Sep 26 14:57 Conflictname
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm  1761280 Sep 27 00:58 Dirnames
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm  5152768 Sep 27 00:58 Filemd5s
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    12288 Sep 27 00:58 Group
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    16384 Sep 27 00:58 Installtid
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    24576 Sep 27 00:58 Name
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm 20668416 Sep 27 00:58 Packages
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm   180224 Sep 27 00:58 Providename
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    77824 Sep 27 00:58 Provideversion
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    12288 Sep 25 13:27 Pubkeys
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm   196608 Sep 27 00:58 Requirename
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm   110592 Sep 27 00:58 Requireversion
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    77824 Sep 27 00:58 Sha1header
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    45056 Sep 27 00:58 Sigmd5
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm rpm    12288 Sep 27 00:58 Triggername
| [root at reboot ~]# rpmdb --initdb
| [root at reboot ~]# ls -l /var/lib/rpm/
| total 29904
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm   4878336 Sep 27 00:58 Basenames
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     12288 Sep 26 14:57 Conflictname
| -rw-r--r--  1 root root    16384 Oct  4 13:02 __db.001
| -rw-r--r--  1 root root  1318912 Oct  4 13:02 __db.002
| -rw-r--r--  1 root root   450560 Oct  4 13:02 __db.003
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm   1761280 Sep 27 00:58 Dirnames
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm   5152768 Sep 27 00:58 Filemd5s
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     12288 Sep 27 00:58 Group
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     16384 Sep 27 00:58 Installtid
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     24576 Sep 27 00:58 Name
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm  20668416 Oct  4 13:02 Packages
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm    180224 Sep 27 00:58 Providename
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     77824 Sep 27 00:58 Provideversion
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     12288 Sep 25 13:27 Pubkeys
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm    196608 Sep 27 00:58 Requirename
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm    110592 Sep 27 00:58 Requireversion
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     77824 Sep 27 00:58 Sha1header
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     45056 Sep 27 00:58 Sigmd5
| -rw-r--r--  1 rpm  rpm     12288 Sep 27 00:58 Triggername

In the worst case, you create an empty rpm database. Which normally
means "reinstall everything". And that can be had easier.

So "rpmdb --initdb" is a command you normally *do not* want to use on a
live system - or maybe only for creating an empty rpm database somewhere
else on your system for chroot builds or similar.

In three words: "--initdb considered harmful".

Ralph
-- 
Ralph Angenendt......ra at br-online.de | .."Text processing has made it possible
Bayerischer Rundfunk...80300 München | ....to right-justify any idea, even one
Programmbereich.Bayern 3, Jugend und | .which cannot be justified on any other
Multimedia.........Tl:089.5900.16023 | ..........grounds." -- J. Finnegan, USC
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