Re: Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Lisi Reisz  writes:

> I would do the dist-upgrade first and clear up any mess remaining afterwards.

Thanks, Lisi.  I was coming to that conclusion, too, but I was looking
for any sort of confirmation that I wasn't guaranteed to brick the
machine. 

I'll report back, assuming that the results of this adventure don't
brick my machine /and/ my network. :-)

Bill

Re: Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Bill Harris <bill_har...@facilitatedsystems.com> writes:

> - I have yet to do the `apt dist-upgrade` (I downloaded all the packages
>   and then quit), so I've got to do that at some time.
>
> - My question was whether I
>
>   - reinstall the packages first, and then do the dist-upgrade later, or
>
>   - do the dist-upgrade first, and then reinstall the packages later.
>
>   - I am guessing that I should reinstall the packages first.
>
> - No matter which order I use, it sounds like I have at least two
>   choices for the reinstall:
>
>   - `apt-get install  --reinstall`
>
> Thanks; I had guessed the --reinstall would come before install.
>
>   Not that it matters, but, from a bit of reading, it sounds as if
>   `apt-get install /wheezy` might work, too.  
>
>   - `aptitude reinstall `
>
> Which is, in a way, cleaner, although I seem to recall cautions
> about mixing apt-get and aptitude, and this would be mixing them
> closely.  (Yes, I know I'll be mixing them anyway, if I go back to
> aptitude once Wheezy is fully installed.

Starting the first option (reinstall packages first), I did reinstall
emacs24, and it brought along a number of other packages.  I was going
to reinstall dbus, the next in the list I posted, but apt complained
that I lack libaudit1.  I started to install that, but apt said it would
upgrade 494, install 324 new, and /remove/ 1310 packages.  That seemed
risky.

In continuing experimentation, the list of packages with bugs I get when
runnign apt-get dist-upgrade changes--or at least the order
changes--each time I run it.  In addition, if I follow up on individual
bugs, sometimes I see mention of sid, which is not part of my
sources.list, and I've never run sid on this machine.

I know no one can know the answer to this, but what do you see as the
risk in just running `apt-get dist-upgrade` in my current state?  

- I /think/ it might be able to resolve things by itself, and the bugs
  might turn out to be cases I never see.  My other Jessie machine seems
  to be working fine, except that suspending broke on some update a
  month or so ago.

- In the worst case, I'd need to go to another machine, make a
  netinstall disk, and start over from scratch.  That's an obvious pain,
  but my /home should be okay (it's backed up, and it's on a separate
  partition, too).

Any suggestions?  If I should just keep trying reinstalling, I can do
that, but I figure that dist-upgrade might do a better job than me of
keeping dependencies in mind.  In other words, I get nervous when
installing one packages leads to deleting lots of packages.

Thanks,

Bill

Re: Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Gary Dale <garyd...@torfree.net> writes:

> On 04/07/16 03:23 PM, Bill Harris wrote:

>>> The simplest solution would be to reinstall the offending
>>> packages. Apt-get doesn't have that option but aptitude does. I can't
>>> try this at home but it may resolve the conflicts. Install aptitude
>>> and give it a try.
>>
>> Gary,
>>
>> I like simple.  To be clear, is this the sequence you're proposing?
>>
>> - Now that I've deleted backports from my sources.list, run `aptitude
>>install emacs24` and so forth through the list.
>>
>> - Then run `apt-get dist-upgrade`.
>>
>> - Reboot into Jessie.
>>
>> The alternative seems to be
>>
>> - Run `apt-get dist-upgrade`.
>>
>> - Run `aptitude install emacs24` and so forth through the list.
>>
>> - Reboot into Jessie.
>>
>> The first sounds correct, but this isn't fully a Jessie system yet, and
>> I'd be reinstalling packages that only came with dist-upgrade.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Bill
>>
> Not even close. I was suggesting installing aptitude then use the
> reinstall option to reinstall the packages.

I think I'm not understanding.  I'll try to be clearer on my end to see
if that helps:

- I do have aptitude, so I don't have to install it.  In fact, I usually
  use aptitude, but the release notes for Wheezy
  
(https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#upgradingpackages)
  suggested using apt-get for this upgrade to reduce the chance of
  problems.

- I have yet to do the `apt dist-upgrade` (I downloaded all the packages
  and then quit), so I've got to do that at some time.

- My question was whether I

  - reinstall the packages first, and then do the dist-upgrade later, or

  - do the dist-upgrade first, and then reinstall the packages later.

  - I am guessing that I should reinstall the packages first.

- No matter which order I use, it sounds like I have at least two
  choices for the reinstall:

  - `apt-get install  --reinstall`

Thanks; I had guessed the --reinstall would come before install.

  Not that it matters, but, from a bit of reading, it sounds as if
  `apt-get install /wheezy` might work, too.  

  - `aptitude reinstall `

Which is, in a way, cleaner, although I seem to recall cautions
about mixing apt-get and aptitude, and this would be mixing them
closely.  (Yes, I know I'll be mixing them anyway, if I go back to
aptitude once Wheezy is fully installed.

Thanks to you and Cindy for your help.

Does that clarify my remaining confusion?  

Bill

Re: Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Gary Dale <garyd...@torfree.net> writes:

> On 04/07/16 12:32 PM, Bill Harris wrote:

>> Summary:
>>   emacs24(1 bug), dbus(1 bug), gnome-settings-daemon(1 bug), libxml2(1 bug), 
>> debhelper(1 bug), openbsd-inetd(1 bug), smartmontools(1 bug), ruby-hpricot(1 
>> bug), cdrdao(1 bug), libgluegen2-rt-java(1 bug), ndiff(1 bug), 
>> apt-xapian-index(1 bug), firefox-esr(3 bugs), dasher(1 bug), minissdpd(1 
>> bug), iceweasel(1 bug), evolution-data-server(1 bug), python-mock(1 bug), 
>> grub-pc-bin(1 bug), hdparm(1 bug), gdm3(3 bugs), libpoppler-glib8(1 bug), 
>> logrotate(1 bug), evolution(2 bugs), xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion(1 
>> bug), q4wine(1 bug), lynx-cur(1 bug), gparted(1 bug), freehdl(1 bug), 
>> totem(1 bug), nfs-common(1 bug), python-paramiko(1 bug), ed(1 bug), 
>> libfreetype6(1 bug), busybox(1 bug), libarchive13(1 bug), libnl-3-200(1 
>> bug), googleearth-package(1 bug), grub2-common(1 bug), empathy(1 bug), 
>> samba-common-bin(1 bug), udisks2(1 bug), stunnel4(2 bugs), pinentry-gtk2(1 
>> bug), synergy(1 bug), cron(1 bug), dh-python(2 bugs), init-system-helpers(1 
>> bug), cups-driver-gutenprint(1 bug)

>> Here is my sources.list:
>>
>> ,
>> | #
>> |
>> | # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.3 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST 
>> Binary-1 20111008-19:52]/ jessie main
>> |
>> | # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.3 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST 
>> Binary-1 20111008-19:52]/ jessie main
>> |
>> | deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main non-free contrib
>> | deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main non-free contrib
>> |
>> | deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
>> | deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
>> |
>> | # jessie-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
>> | deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free
>> | deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib 
>> non-free
>> |
>> | # R backports at http://cran.fhcrc.org/
>> | deb http://cran.fhcrc.org/bin/linux/debian jessie-cran3/
>> |
>> | # Jessie backports http://backports-master.debian.org/Instructions/
>> | # deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main contrib non-free
>> |
>> `

> The simplest solution would be to reinstall the offending
> packages. Apt-get doesn't have that option but aptitude does. I can't
> try this at home but it may resolve the conflicts. Install aptitude
> and give it a try.


Gary,

I like simple.  To be clear, is this the sequence you're proposing?

- Now that I've deleted backports from my sources.list, run `aptitude
  install emacs24` and so forth through the list.

- Then run `apt-get dist-upgrade`.

- Reboot into Jessie.

The alternative seems to be

- Run `apt-get dist-upgrade`.

- Run `aptitude install emacs24` and so forth through the list.

- Reboot into Jessie.

The first sounds correct, but this isn't fully a Jessie system yet, and
I'd be reinstalling packages that only came with dist-upgrade.

Thanks,

Bill

Re: Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Cindy-Sue Causey  writes:

> I've used  "apt-get install --reinstall" successfully a couple times
> during issues. From "man apt-get", this flag's description is:
>
> "Re-install packages that are already installed and at the newest version."

I thought I had seen that apt could do that.  Thanks.

> Just thinking out loud. :)

Thanks, Cindy.

Is there an easy way to `apt-get install --reinstall` and have it pick
up those packages with bugs, or is it easier to enter the command once
for each package?

Bill

Wheezy to Jessie update problem: packages with bugs

2016-07-04 Thread Bill Harris 
I updated one laptop a month or two ago using the process on
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html,
and it worked smoothly.  Then I tried the same thing yesterday on a
second laptop, except that I forgot to get rid of a wheezy backports
entry; instead, I just did a blanket replace of wheezy with jessie.

After doing the apt-get upgrade, I got a few packages with bugs, but I
let them proceed, as the bugs didn't seem to apply to me (one referred
to difficulties when running in a VM, for example).  

After the apt-get dist-upgrade, lots more bugs were reported:



  .
  .
  .
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-font-utils:amd64
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-bibtex-extra:amd64
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-binaries:amd64
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-extra-utils:amd64
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-bibtex-extra:amd64
  texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-binaries:amd64
texlive-base:amd64 conflicts with texlive-bibtex-extra:amd64
  libtk8.5:amd64 conflicts with tk8.5:amd64
Retrieving bug reports... Done
Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done
critical bugs of evolution-data-server (3.4.4-3+deb7u1 -> 
3.12.9~git20141128.5242b0-2+deb8u2) 
 #787398 - evolution-data-server: SMTP connection lost while reading message 
data (Fixed: evolution-data-server/3.16.2-1)
critical bugs of pinentry-gtk2 (0.8.1-1 -> 0.8.3-2) 
 #750521 - scim-gtk-immodule breaks pinentry-gtk2 and impairs gnome-keyring 
(Fixed: pinentry/0.9.6-1)
serious bugs of emacs24 (-> 24.4+1-5) 
 #766397 - emacs/gnus: Uses s_client to for SSL.
serious bugs of firefox-esr (-> 45.2.0esr-1~deb8u1) 
 #822715 - firefox-esr: FTBFS with GCC 6: 'malloc' was not declared in this 
scope
critical bugs of udisks2 (-> 2.1.3-5) 
 #821126 - gparted: mount is unsupported. (Fixed: udisks2/2.1.5-1)
   Merged with: 782838
grave bugs of libgluegen2-rt-java (-> 2.2.4-2) 
 #779482 - support for powerpc, ppc64el and s390x not complete (Fixed: 
gluegen2/2.3.2-3)
grave bugs of firefox-esr (-> 45.2.0esr-1~deb8u1) 
 #825909 - firefox-esr: crash when loading videos (Fixed: 
firefox-esr/45.2.0esr-1)
grave bugs of python-mock (-> 1.0.1-3) 
 #794461 - RequirementParseError: Expected version spec in funcsigs; 
python_version<"3.3" at ; python_version<"3.3" (Fixed: python-mock/1.3.0-2.1)
grave bugs of gdm3 (3.4.1-8 -> 3.14.1-7) 
 #784671 - gdm3 wouldn't start until caribou path changed (Fixed: gdm3/3.14.1-8)
grave bugs of libpoppler-glib8 (0.18.4-6+deb7u1 -> 0.26.5-2+deb8u1) 
 #767659 - evince 3.14.1-1 gets undefined symbol with libpoppler46:i386 earlier 
than 0.26.5-2 (Fixed: poppler/0.26.5-3)
   Merged with: 768475 768985 771329
grave bugs of evolution (3.4.4-3 -> 3.12.9~git20141130.241663-1+b1) 
 #788029 - evolution: undefined symbol: e_file_lock_get_pid Must depend on same 
libevolution version (Fixed: evolution/3.16.5-1)
grave bugs of lynx-cur (2.8.8dev.12-2 -> 2.8.9dev1-2+deb8u1) 
 #776073 - lynx-cur: can connect to site with expired certificate (Fixed: 
lynx-cur/2.8.9dev4-1)
grave bugs of totem (3.0.1-8 -> 3.14.0-2) 
 #785538 - [totem] totem crashes at start, no way to start it. (Fixed: 
totem/3.16.2-1)
grave bugs of python-paramiko (1.7.7.1-3.1 -> 1.15.1-1) 
 #754851 - paramiko fails with int too long or returns broken filenames (Fixed: 
paramiko/2.0.0-1 paramiko/1.15.3-1)
grave bugs of libarchive13 (-> 3.1.2-11+deb8u1) 
 #823984 - libarchive13/unstable is older than libarchive13/stable (Fixed: 
libarchive/3.2.1-1 libarchive/3.1.2-11.1)
grave bugs of init-system-helpers (-> 1.22) 
 #827191 - invoke-rc.d don't start systemd services (Fixed: 
init-system-helpers/1.35)
serious bugs of dbus (1.6.8-1+deb7u6 -> 1.8.20-0+deb8u1) 
 #813970 - dbus: purge fails: invoke-rc.d: initscript dbus, action "stop" 
failed. (Fixed: dbus/1.11.2-1 dbus/1.10.8-1)
serious bugs of libxml2 (2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy6 -> 2.9.1+dfsg1-5+deb8u2) 
 #795279 - libvirt0: Libvirt reports malformed URI for active connection 
(Fixed: libxml2/2.9.1+dfsg1-5+deb8u3 libxml2/2.9.2+really2.9.1+dfsg1-0.2 
libxml2/2.9.2+zdfsg1-4)
   Merged with: 781232 797450 797490 827223
serious bugs of debhelper (9.20120909 -> 9.20150101) 
 #747141 - debhelper: dh_installdocs --link-doc forces source-version 
dependencies (Fixed: debhelper/9.20150501)
serious bugs of smartmontools (5.41+svn3365-1 -> 6.3+svn4002-2+b2) 
 #777583 - incorrect debian/copyright for smartmontools violates Debian policy 
(Fixed: smartmontools/6.4+svn4214-1)
serious bugs of apt-xapian-index (0.45 -> 0.47) 
 #803936 - goplay: not installable using aptitude with 
"apt-xapian-index.postinst: update-python-modules: not found" (Fixed: 
apt-xapian-index/0.47+nmu1)
   Merged with: 793681
serious bugs of hdparm (9.39-1+b1 -> 9.43-2) 
 #725284 - hdparm + systemd: Configuration not restored after resume (Fixed: 
hdparm/9.48+ds-1)

Re: Backup/Restore software?

2013-08-04 Thread Bill Harris 
Martin Steigerwald mar...@lichtvoll.de writes:

 There are so many solutions that I can easily spend a week or more to
 evaluate and compare them all. You already got a lot of suggestions
 for file-based approaches.

I must have trashed the start of this thread, so I don't know everything
that has been mentioned, but I've found rdiff-backup to work well for
several years.  I've never had to restore everything, but I have
successfully restored files.

Bill
-- 
Bill Harris  


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Re: Random crashes that won't allow rebooting easily

2013-04-19 Thread Bill Harris 
Bill Harris wsharri...@gmail.com writes:

 Thanks for your quick response.  The laptop is currently crashed, and so
 I'll check logs and more later.  I discovered uprecords a while back, and

I booted into W7 and launched IE last night, and then I shut down again.
Then I booted Debian.  This time it worked, but I have no reason to
believe that following those steps is anything more than superstition.

Before that, I had tried a reboot into Debian recovery mode, and I
continued on rather than entering a root password for maintenance.
Somewhere in there it crashed with a log file on the screen.  I don't
know for sure what log file that was nor whether it wrote it to disk,
but I found similar messages in 'messages' from the day before when I
was trying to boot when I rebooted last night.

Here is a section from 'messages' (one of several) where it said cut
here (I presume that's important :-) ):

Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.293881] [ cut here 
]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.293916] WARNING: at 
/build/buildd-linux-2.6_2.6.32-48squeeze1-amd64-qu4MIV/linux-2.6-2.6.32/debian/build/source_amd64_none/net/mac80211/tx.c:1330
 ieee80211_tx+0x1ad/0x1d3 [mac80211]()
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.293922] Hardware name: HP Pavilion dv7 
Notebook PC
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.293924] tx refused but queue active
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.293927] Modules linked in: nls_utf8 
nls_cp437 vfat fat usb_storage xt_limit xt_tcpudp ipt_LOG ipt_MASQUERADE 
xt_DSCP ipt_REJECT nf_conntrack_irc nf_conntrack_ftp xt_state aes_x86_64 
aes_generic usbhid hid parport_pc ppdev lp parport sco bridge stp bnep l2cap 
bluetooth acpi_cpufreq cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_stats cpufreq_conservative 
cpufreq_powersave nfsd lockd nfs_acl auth_rpcgss binfmt_misc sunrpc exportfs 
uinput fuse iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv4 
iptable_mangle iptable_filter ip_tables x_tables ext4 jbd2 crc16 loop 
snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep 
snd_pcm snd_seq arc4 ecb uvcvideo snd_timer radeon snd_seq_device i915 joydev 
videodev ttm brcm80211(C) snd v4l1_compat drm_kms_helper mac80211 
v4l2_compat_ioctl32 hp_accel psmouse soundcore drm lis3lv02d i2c_i801 cfg80211 
i2c_algo_bit input_polldev i2c_core video snd_page_alloc wmi output rfkill 
pcspkr evdev led_class serio_raw battery ac processor 
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: button ext3 jbd mbcache sg sr_mod sd_mod 
crc_t10dif cdrom ahci ehci_hcd libata usbcore nls_base scsi_mod r8169 mii 
thermal thermal_sys [last unloaded: scsi_wait_scan]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294040] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: G 
C 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294044] Call Trace:
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294046]  IRQ  [a021771d] ? 
ieee80211_tx+0x1ad/0x1d3 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294077]  [a021771d] ? 
ieee80211_tx+0x1ad/0x1d3 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294086]  [8104dfcc] ? 
warn_slowpath_common+0x77/0xa3
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294091]  [8104e054] ? 
warn_slowpath_fmt+0x51/0x59
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294105]  [a0207b34] ? 
sta_info_get+0x2e/0x43 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294133]  [a027ad0c] ? 
wl_ops_tx+0x5f/0x66 [brcm80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294148]  [a0217502] ? 
__ieee80211_tx+0xeb/0x159 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294162]  [a021771d] ? 
ieee80211_tx+0x1ad/0x1d3 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294179]  [a021795d] ? 
ieee80211_xmit+0x21a/0x23b [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294193]  [a0218847] ? 
ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x664/0x685 [mac80211]
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294203]  [810e63a5] ? 
virt_to_head_page+0x9/0x2a
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294213]  [812515cc] ? 
dev_hard_start_xmit+0x211/0x2db
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294219]  [812645cc] ? 
sch_direct_xmit+0x58/0x14c
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294225]  [812519e9] ? 
dev_queue_xmit+0x252/0x38d
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294231]  [81278db9] ? 
ip_queue_xmit+0x311/0x386
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294237]  [8128974d] ? 
tcp_xmit_probe_skb+0x1f/0xc8
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294243]  [8103a371] ? 
enqueue_task+0x5f/0x68
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294248]  [8128974d] ? 
tcp_xmit_probe_skb+0x1f/0xc8
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294254]  [812896ef] ? 
tcp_transmit_skb+0x648/0x687
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294259]  [81249bec] ? 
__alloc_skb+0x69/0x15a
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294264]  [8128c61d] ? 
tcp_keepalive_timer+0x0/0x1e6
Apr 17 20:08:13 marbach kernel: [76743.294269]  [8128c61d

Re: Random crashes that won't allow rebooting easily

2013-04-19 Thread Bill Harris 
Darac Marjal mailingl...@darac.org.uk writes:

 This looks like it might be
 http://us.generation-nt.com/answer/problem-brcm80211-hangs-2-6-36-0-34-rc6-git3-fc15-x86-64-help-200600731.html.
 Try a newer kernel, if you can (though I don't see evidence in that
 thread that the change was incorporated into the mainstream kernel)

Thanks!  That begins to give a potential rational explanation for this
problem.

Given that this happens relatively infrequently and that Wheezy will be
released in about a month or less (or so I read), I may wait for that.
If I get a minute and convince myself that I can update the kernel with
little risk of borking anything, I may try.  

Bill
-- 
Bill Harris  
Facilitated Systems
http://makingsense.facilitatedsystems.com/


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Re: Re: Random crashes that won't allow rebooting easily

2013-04-18 Thread Bill Harris 
Soare,

Thanks for your quick response.  The laptop is currently crashed, and so
I'll check logs and more later.  I discovered uprecords a while back, and
I've had uptimes as long as 136 days.  I think the current mode of uptime
is around 10-20 days, but it may be longer.  I do sense that it's shorter
than it was before I started using uprecords, but I'm not sure, and that
could be due to either hardware or a bad update.

Your idea about running W7 for a while is intriguing if a bit painful (all
my stuff is on the Linux side).  Still, I don't think that's what I need
right now.  One could view this as two problems: random freezes followed by
an inability to reboot.  While I don't use W7 often, I only recall one time
W7 failed to boot, and it recovered nicely.  Right now, I haven't been able
to boot Debian since last night, although I've booted W7 multiple times.
 It sounds as if some state information is being written to disk on the
Debian side that makes it hang up when starting ACPI (usually) or gdm3
(occasionally) or while checking the battery (occasionally).

Karl mentioned possible overheating.  I let it sit overnight unplugged and
tried again this morning, but it still failed.  There is also no sign of
overheating (fan noise, hot air, heavy-duty number crunching) when it
crashes, at least as far as I can recall.

When I get a moment, I'll boot into recovery mode (that always works) and
then run startx (which also works).  I'll try to find any useful logfile
info so I can post it here.

Oh, and Karl asked if I had any strange video drivers.  My laptop has a
dual Intel/ATI graphics system, but I think the ATI side and the switching
isn't supported out of the box, so I've just left the standard Intel
drivers in place.

IIRC, when it freezes, it's solidly dead.  The screen is still as it was,
but nothing has any effect: mouse, Alt-tab, attempts to get to virtual
consoles.  I honestly don't recall if I have blinking cursors :-%, but I
certainly don't recall seeing any after a freeze.

Bill
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Bill Harris

Random crashes that won't allow rebooting easily

2013-04-17 Thread Bill Harris 
I'm running an up-to-date Debian Squeeze 64-bit on a laptop.  It's usually
been stable, as I might expect from Debian Stable.  From time to time,
though, it freezes at seemingly random times.  I notice it mostly when I'm
typing and the keyboard stops responding, but I'm not sure it always
freezes while typing.  I can't do anything at that point, not even select a
virtual console.

I can't find an Alt-SysReq key on the laptop keyboard to kill it
semi-gracefully, so I kill it with the power button.

When I reboot, it usually boots partway and then freezes again.  It's
almost always just after it's said it's starting gdm3, checking battery
status, or starting ACPI.

Getting past that point is challenging.  I've tried disconnecting the power
and taking out the battery, but that rarely helps.  What usually helps is
to boot into Windows (W7, if it matters) and then shut down and boot into
Debian.  Sometimes it seems to help to pull the battery for a bit, too.
 Sometimes neither seem to help, and so I keep trying combinations until it
reboots.

Does that sound at all familiar?  If so, is there a solution (either to
keep it from freezing or to recover more rapidly after freezing)?  What
data (log file, I presume) do you need to help me find and fix the prroblem?

Thanks,

Bill

Re: Squeeze freeze

2012-12-15 Thread Bill Harris 
Bob Proulx b...@proulx.com writes:

 It is quite safe.  You can always try it now and if it doesn't have
 any success for you then you can remove it without lingering issues of
 having had it installed.  Example:

Thanks, Bob, for the detailed instructions.

Bill
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Re: Squeeze freeze

2012-12-09 Thread Bill Harris 
Andrei POPESCU andreimpope...@gmail.com writes:

 Have you tried unplugging and pulling out the battery after the (forced) 
 shutdown?

Andrei,

Yep.  I left it out for 30-60 seconds, which has worked on other laptops
in the past, and it wasn't successful.

 Sorry, no idea about the freezes except maybe to try a newer kernel 
 (backports has 3.2).

Thanks.  I see that now.  I'll think about it (and research what I'd
have to do in addition to installing it).  I've been staying mostly with
Stable to reduce risk.

Bill
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Squeeze freeze

2012-12-08 Thread Bill Harris 
] wl_ops_set_rts_threshold: Enter
| Dec  7 05:13:16 marbach kernel: [12599.987104] Restarting tasks ... done.
| Dec  7 05:13:16 marbach kernel: [12600.172380] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: 
link is not ready
| Dec  7 05:13:17 marbach kernel: [12600.224907] r8169 :03:00.0: eth0: link 
down
| Dec  7 05:13:17 marbach kernel: [12600.225586] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: 
link is not ready
`

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Re: Evolution and POP3 problem: want to delete from server when moved from Inbox

2012-04-23 Thread Bill Harris 
Camaleón noela...@gmail.com writes:

 On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 10:48:01 -0700, Bill Harris wrote:
 1.  I set up Evolution and imported my Icedove folders, and then I
 downloaded email for the first time in Evolution.  That gave me
 duplicates of everything.  Is there a command or plugin to eliminate
 duplicates, as there was on Thunderbird/Icedove, or do I have to do
 that manually?

 Mmm, you have something about that explained here:

 http://live.gnome.org/Evolution/FAQ#Why_does_Evolution_download_duplicate_emails.3F_How_can_I_get_rid_of_them.3F_Why_does_Evolution_reload_old_mails_from_server_when_.22Leave_a_message_on_the_pop_server.22_is_activated.3F
 http://library.gnome.org/users/evolution/3.2/mail-duplicates.html.en

Thanks.  That led me to
http://gnome-evolution-general.1774414.n4.nabble.com/remove-duplicates-td1781760.html,
which does seem to have interesting links.  I'll have to check them out.

 2.  My second issue is much more important to me.  I leave emails on the
 server for various reasons.  When I do move some messages from the
 inbox to other folders or I delete messages from the inbox, I want
 Evolution to remove them from the server, but I can't figure out how
 to do that (it seemed easy on Thunderbird / Icedove).  How does one
 do this?
 
 Any tips?  I've searched and found a few tantalizing hints that there
 might be a solution, but I haven't found the solutions.

 (...)

 Leaving a copy in the server is an option that always gives headaches. 
 Have you considered moving to IMAP, instead?

It worked well in T'bird until T'bird (Icedove) choked. :-%

 AFAICT, these servers do not support IMAP.  

 Ouch... Jump to another provider, then?

Someday. :-)

Thanks, Camaleón.

Bill
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Evolution and POP3 problem: want to delete from server when moved from Inbox

2012-04-21 Thread Bill Harris 
  This is essentially a duplicate of a posting to the Evolution mailiing
  list an hour or two ago.  After posting there, I saw that they
  considered the Squeeze version of Evolution obsolete and recommended
  asking on one's distro mailing list.

I'm a new Evolution user (version 2.30.3) on Debian Squeeze, having
moved from Icedove because it had problems downloading large POP3
messages a few times, and Evolution handled them fine.  So far,
Evolution is working okay, except I have two problems:

1.  I set up Evolution and imported my Icedove folders, and then I
downloaded email for the first time in Evolution.  That gave me
duplicates of everything.  Is there a command or plugin to eliminate
duplicates, as there was on Thunderbird/Icedove, or do I have to do
that manually?

2.  My second issue is much more important to me.  I leave emails on the
server for various reasons.  When I do move some messages from the
inbox to other folders or I delete messages from the inbox, I want
Evolution to remove them from the server, but I can't figure out how
to do that (it seemed easy on Thunderbird / Icedove).  How does one
do this?

Any tips?  I've searched and found a few tantalizing hints that there
might be a solution, but I haven't found the solutions.

I can do the first (removing duplicates) manually, although I'd rather
not (I have a number of emails to sort through, in that case).

I'm open to a number of options on the second:

- If Evolution has the capability built in and I haven't found it,
  advice on how to do it would be great.

- If a newer version of Evolution has it and it's buildable on Squeeze,
  let me know.  I thought I saw that described somewhere, but I can't
  find instructions in the current documentation describing how to set
  it up.

- If people use dovecot or something similar to get email instead of
  Evolution's built-in POP3 software, and if dovecot or similar can
  manage the communications required to do this, can you point me to a
  howto or other documentation?  I've not used dovecot

If none of those work, how do you manage this?  Do you delete or move
emails in Evolution and then also log into webmail and delete the same
messages?  That sounds tedious, and I'd rather not do that.

I've asked a few colleagues, and a common response is to use IMAP.
AFAICT, these servers do not support IMAP.  Besides, at some time, I'd
like to have the emails on my own disk, and my past experience suggests
that's not as easy with IMAP as it is with other approaches.

Thanks,

Bill


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Re: how to retrieve info from a bad disk?

2012-04-21 Thread Bill Harris 
Gary Dale garyd...@rogers.com writes:

 On 21/04/12 11:22 AM, abdelkader belahcene wrote:

 Is there  another rescue software ??

 Firstly, copy the entire disk to another one of the same or larger
 size by booting from a live distro such as sysrecuecd and using dd
 (e.g. dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb).

Check out ddrescue as a replacement for dd, too.  I've had luck with it
when some files were partially corrupted, but it's been years since I
used it.

Bill


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