I solved this problem.  I've included my solution (not for the faint of
heart) as a reference.

The problem WAS with my rpm database, as had been suggested.  But it
existed in the Packages database, so --rebuilddb (which doesn't rebuild
that file) didn't fix it.

History (I'm sure this led to the corruption): My base install is
Mandrake 7.2.  Right after installing, I switched to updating from
cooker (I hate the concept of "re-install to upgrade"... makes me think
too much of Windows).  Since that time, I've upgraded so many packages,
including going from rpm3 to rpm4, that I can't keep track (you guys
work fast :).

Identification: I finally realized that it was the database when, out of
frustration, I tried to forcefully remove the kdebase package, so I
could reinstall it.  This resulted in the same memory fault I had seen
trying to update/install the package.

Solution (this is NOT suggested if you are a newbie and/or don't have a
saved copy of each rpm you have installed): 
1) Did an rpm -qa and saved the output in a file
2) made a backup copy of /var/lib/rpm
3) deleted all the databases in /var/lib/rpm
4) did rpm --initdb
5) since I keep a backup copy of the previous 2 to 3 rpms of each
package I have installed (I love the bleeding edge, but I'm not stupid
and have had to "downgrade" before), I looped through the saved output
of the rpm -qa and did a rpm -i --justdb --nodeps --noscripts
--notriggers on each of the packages.

That restored the database information to properly reflect all my
packages, without re-installing it all.  Once done, the SEGV was gone,
and I could continue my cooking ways.  May the source remain with me.

Made for an interesting Saturday. ;)



On Mon, 2001-09-03 at 19:59, Lonnie Borntreger wrote:
> I just updated to 0.22mdk of popt* and rpm*.  Still the problem exists. 
> Has anybody had a chance to interpret the strace output I sent?
> On Thu, 2001-08-30 at 00:48, Lonnie Borntreger wrote:
> > On Tue, 2001-08-28 at 04:44, Fabrice FACORAT wrote:
> > > Le Mardi 28 Août 2001 08:41, vous avez écrit :
> > > > I'm assuming by the lack of response on this for three weeks that I
> > > > either have a problem that nobody cares about, nobody else is having,
> > > > nobody can come up with a fix for, or several/all the above.
> > > >
> > > > Since sending this, I've updated the popt and rpm packages to 0.21mdk,
> > > > but it still acts the same.  Does ANYBODY have any clues as to why this
> > > > may be happening, and how I can debug/fix it?
> > > 
> > > make an strace. If you reproduce the pb, send the strace log as an attached 
> > > file and say precisely what you do.
> > > For example, If I wat to trace the installation of a rpm called myrpm.rpm, 
> > > and have the log in the file named rpm.log :
> > > strace rpm -i myrpm.rpm 2> rpm.log &
> > > 
> > > If you are able to read what the strace say ( man strace ), so you can show 
> > > in the email what seems to be wrong
> > 
> > I attached a bzipped file containing the strace.  I'm not fluent in
> > strace.
> > 
> > The command I was tracing was:
> > rpm -Uvh --test --nodeps kdebase-2.2-20mdk.i586.rpm
> > 
> > (The --nodeps was just to make so I didn't have to provide a long list
> > of packages, since I knew this package would cause the problem.)
> > 
> > Note that it does this with or without the --test

-- 
TTFN,
Lonnie Borntreger

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-- 
TTFN,
Lonnie Borntreger

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Our mission is to authoritatively promote timely methods of
empowerment so that we may endeavor to collaboratively supply
inexpensive opportunities to exceed customer expectations


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