[CentOS] upgrading 7.5 ==> 7.6

Sat Dec 22 19:14:34 UTC 2018
Fred Smith <fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us>

On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 04:33:59PM -0500, Fred Smith wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 01:06:14PM -0800, Alice Wonder wrote:
> > On 12/21/18 12:44 PM, Fred Smith wrote:
> > >On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 06:27:45PM +0000, Liam O'Toole wrote:
> > >>On 2018-12-19, Fred Smith
> > >><fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>[...]
> > >>
> > >>>Result: Boots to GDM just fine, but Mate is a black screen. Switching
> > >>>to Gnome, works fine, but I can't stand Gnome.  Not knowing what else
> > >>>to try I restored the dd backup.
> > >>
> > >>This is a known issue, and was mentioned on this list recently. The
> > >>problem is that Mate in EPEL needs to be updated to work with CentOS
> > >>7.6. Perhaps keep an eye on changes to the EPEL repo before attempting
> > >>the upgrade again.
> > >
> > >Thanks, Liam, for the info.
> > >
> > >Since it IS working on the netbook I'm hoping that means that whatever
> > >needed updating has been updated.
> > >
> > >So, I compared the versions on my desktop with those on the netbook, and
> > >find that mate_dictionary, mate-disk-usage-analyzer, mate-screenshot,
> > >mate-search-tool, mate-system-log, mate-system-monitor, mate-utilsk,
> > >mate-utils-common all had a minor version bump. Some from 1.16.1-1 to
> > >1.16.1-2, one from 1.16.0-1 to 1.16.0-2.
> > >
> > >I know there are other packages that do not contain "mate" in their names,
> > >but I don't know which they are.
> > >
> > >So, do you (or anyone else) happen to know which Mate packages are/were
> > >in need of update?
> > >
> > >thanks again, in advance.
> > >
> > 
> > Not sure, MATE is working just fine for me, versions range from
> > 1.16.0 to 1.16.3
> > 
> > yum list |grep "mate" |grep -v "@epel" |grep -v "devel"
> > mate-menus-preferences-category-menu.x86_64
> > classmate.noarch                         1.3.1-2.el7 epel
> > classmate-javadoc.noarch                 1.3.1-2.el7 epel
> > f22-backgrounds-mate.noarch              21.91.0-1.el7 epel
> > mate-common.noarch                       1.16.0-1.el7 epel
> > mate-netspeed.x86_64                     1.12.0-1.el7 epel
> > mate-sensors-applet.x86_64               1.16.1-1.el7 epel
> > mate-themes-extras.noarch                3.14.7-1.el7 epel
> > php-league-climate.noarch                3.2.4-1.el7 epel
> > workrave-mate.x86_64                     1.10.16-1.el7 epel
> > xmonad-mate.x86_64                       0.11-12.el7                 epel
> > 
> > Some of those obviously are not mate packages, but those are the
> > only mate packages I do NOT have installed and it is working, so if
> > mate is not working I wonder if the issue is something other than
> > the packages.
> 
> 
> Good question, Alice. I guess I need to go back to trying the upgrade
> again on my new-to-me-but-still-pretty-old laptop, where it failed a week
> or so ago. If that works I'll be slightly less paranoid about trying it
> on my main desktop box, which I definitely do NOT want to screw up.
> 
> Or maybe plug in a 1tb usb drive and install on it and see what happens.
> 
> Fred

So,... for my new-to-me-but-old laptop, I plugged in a USB drive and
saved a dd image of the laptop's HD into a file on the USB drive.

Then I ran the upgrade, which went without any notable issues. Reboot
works fine. the X login screen appears, I enter my credentials and log
in. It goes through a lot of motions and eventually stops with the
snowy/gray background from the Plymouth boot screen, but with nothing
at all on it, and no mouse pointer. X is clearly running, but is not
displaying my Mate desktop.

I saved aside /var/log/messages and /var/log/Xorg.0.log, uploaded
subsets of them to pastebin. the /var/log/messages subset is https://pastebin.com/MJR2T3Xz, while the xorg.0.log is https://pastebin.com/wrucd77z.

Note the repeating (apparent) failures at the end of Xorg.0.log.

I don't know what any of this has to do with Mate, but would appreciate
your assistance.

(I ran the update on a netbook and it went fine. both have Intel CPUs,
the netbook  has intel graphics, and the new-to-me-etc. laptop has a
Radeon graphics chipset. I dunno if it makes any difference, or how to
tell, or how to fix it, if it does.)

Suggestions appreciated, in advance!

Fred

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                         God made him who had no sin
                      to be sin for us, so that in him
                 we might become the righteousness of God."
--------------------------- Corinthians 5:21 ---------------------------------