[CentOS] How should I reinstall CentOS?

[Michael Hennebry]

On Wed, 30 Oct 2013, Les Mikesell wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Michael Hennebry
> <hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu> wrote:
>> On Wed, 30 Oct 2013, Les Mikesell wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 12:28 PM, Michael Hennebry
>>> <hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> gdm hangs.
>>> [...]
>>>> user had insufficient privilege
>>>
>>> That likely means that the pid file for the process you are about to
>>> start exists in /var/run/ but it is unreadable.  You should be running
>>> as  root at that point, so that's odd, but maybe you have file system
>>> corruption or some other cruft there.  I don't think should cause a
>>> hang, though.    If you switch to a virtual console can you tell what
>>> process is hung and see what strace says it is waiting for?
>>
>> I know what strace does, but where should I use it?
>
> Either ssh in from somewhere else or log in on a virtual terminal
> (e.g. alt+F2) so you still have access if the main console hangs when
> you 'telinit 5'.  Use ps in the other session to see if you can find
> the hung process and then 'strace -p pid' will show if it is waiting
> for some system call to complete.

root      2616     1  0 14:46 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary -nodaemon
root      2636  2616  0 14:46 ?        00:00:00 /usr/libexec/gdm-simple-slave --display-id /org/gnome/DisplayManager/Display1
root      2638  2636  0 14:46 tty7     00:00:00 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -br -verbose -audit 4 -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-q5Pjv4/database -nolisten tcp
gdm       2654  2636  0 14:46 ?        00:00:00 [dbus-launch] <defunct>
gdm       2657     1  0 14:46 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session
gdm       2658     1  0 14:46 ?        00:00:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session
root      2728  2666  0 14:52 tty2     00:00:00 strace -o /tmp/gdm.strace -p2616
root      2999  2736  0 15:05 tty3     00:00:00 grep -e org -e gdm

2616 was in gdm.pid .
--nodaemon?
Here is the result of strace on it:
restart_syscall(<... resuming interrupted call ...>) = 1
read(3, "l\4\1\1\36\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\211\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0/org/fre"..., 2048) = 380
read(3, 0x87d3eb8, 2048)                = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
read(3, "l\4\1\1\36\0\0\0\21\0\0\0\211\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0/org/fre"..., 2048) = 190
read(3, 0x87d3eb8, 2048)                = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
...
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
read(3, "l\4\1\1\36\0\0\0\31\0\0\0\211\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0/org/fre"..., 2048) = 190
read(3, 0x87d3eb8, 2048)                = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
read(3, "l\4\1\1\35\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\211\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0/org/fre"..., 2048) = 189
read(3, 0x87d3eb8, 2048)                = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1

BTW after issuing messages, telinit lets me use the console.

> Does 'startx' work at the console from runlevel 3?

I'll try it.

-- 
Michael   hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu
"On Monday, I'm gonna have to tell my kindergarten class,
whom I teach not to run with scissors,
that my fiance ran me through with a broadsword."  --  Lily