[CentOS] glibc-2.5-58.el5_6.2.i686 broken?

Tue Apr 19 00:21:38 UTC 2011
fred smith <fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us>

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 07:07:04PM -0500, Ron Blizzard wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Tom Sorensen <tsorensen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > There is a known issue with one of the security updates on that
> > version of glibc.
> >
> > That said, it's still *highly* recommended that you update. There are
> > four CVEs closed by this glibc update, one of which is potentially a
> > remote privilege escalation (and that one is NOT the one that is
> > causing the issue).
> >
> > If, for some reason, you cannot update then you should seriously
> > consider whether or not those systems can connect to the Internet, or
> > if you should get the glibc from Scientific Linux that has the 3
> > patches that do not cause an issue in the meantime.
> 
> For clarification, this bug is only known to be affecting Evolution
> and Gnome-Panel, correct? If so, for most servers, the update should
> not be a concern. I've updated four desktops -- the two with Intel
> video chips are not affected at all. The two with nVidia chipsets and
> proprietary nVidia drivers *are* affected. Since I don't use
> Evolution, the "work-around" for me is to issue the "pkill
> gnome-panel" command. Usually doing this once will fix it, but
> sometimes it requires a couple shots.
> 
> I dual-boot into Linux Mint 10 (so I can remotely support my father
> who uses Linux Mint -- I need to be able to replicate his errors when
> he has them). It has a very similar issue, except, in its case, both
> Nautilus and Gnome-Panel do not come up. I have to go to a tty
> terminal and issue the "pkill nautilus" and "pkill gnome-panel"
> commands. I didn't have this problem *until* I updated the video
> driver to nVidia's proprietary one. So, again, it appears it might
> have something to do with the nVidia's driver.
> 
> At any rate, there are work-arounds -- for those who use Evolution,
> the SL update is probably the best. I'm kind of surprised that Red Hat
> has not issued a fix yet.

What works for me is, after I log in and find the panels are empty,
do CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE then log in again and the panels are working.
A fairly low-pain workaround.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us ----------------------------
                    Do you not know? Have you not heard? 
    The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 
  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
----------------------------- Isaiah 40:28 (niv) -----------------------------