broken /var
had a big problem this afternoon - had some serious issues with the reiserfs on /dev/hda1 (an oldish 1.6 gig maxtor), ended up not being able to fsck it to an orderly state. Had to redo the whole fs, (should have made a backup) and grab a /var from a ubuntu disk. Obviously, ubuntu is not debian, but their /var structure should be similar enough that I can fix the problems after the fact. 2 major problems remain: using postfix, this has been working for years, ran postfix check to recreate the missing directories, and my machine (m206-157.dsl.tsoft.com) is getting the mail fine. I just can't *send* mail. Postfix tells me that there is an unknown transport for the mail I try to send, and holds it in the queue. The other issue - I no longer have a working repository for dpkg describing what files are installed. Is there a way to recreate it without a reinstall? I noticed that aptitude upgrade was fetching down a number of things, but as I don't know what it's upgrading *from* I don't know if I can trust it. Another thing - aptitude update was going very slowly and experiencing connection time outs periodically during the execution, so I don't think I can trust it. On the other hand, dpkg --get-selections gives me a number of things, but honestly I think those where what Ubuntu put there? Obviously, that is not what I want. I'm hoping to not have to reinstall this thing :). -- David E. Fox Thanks for letting me [EMAIL PROTECTED]change magnetic patterns [EMAIL PROTECTED] on your hard disk. --- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: broken /var
David E. Fox wrote: had a big problem this afternoon - had some serious issues with the reiserfs on /dev/hda1 (an oldish 1.6 gig maxtor), ended up not being able to fsck it to an orderly state. Had to redo the whole fs, (should have made a backup) and grab a /var from a ubuntu disk. Obviously, ubuntu is not debian, but their /var structure should be similar enough that I can fix the problems after the fact. I've also had some issues with reiserfs and have always sticked to ext3 ever since. I guess the advantages of reiserfs don't warrant experiments on important data. ext3 is rock solid on debian. YMMV. 2 major problems remain: using postfix, this has been working for years, ran postfix check to recreate the missing directories, and my machine (m206-157.dsl.tsoft.com) is getting the mail fine. I just can't *send* mail. Postfix tells me that there is an unknown transport for the mail I try to send, and holds it in the queue. The other issue - I no longer have a working repository for dpkg describing what files are installed. Is there a way to recreate it without a reinstall? I noticed that aptitude upgrade was fetching down a number of things, but as I don't know what it's upgrading *from* I don't know if I can trust it. Another thing - aptitude update was going very slowly and experiencing connection time outs periodically during the execution, so I don't think I can trust it. On the other hand, dpkg --get-selections gives me a number of things, but honestly I think those where what Ubuntu put there? Obviously, that is not what I want. I'm hoping to not have to reinstall this thing :). /var has all variable data of your system except configuration files. Ie. the data on /var depends on your system and cannot be just copied from ubuntu. For some help to get from here, see http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html#s-recover-status and the part about recovering from lost /var further down that page. When I had a similar problem, I didn't feel comfortable to continue using the 'recovered' /var and finally reinstalled after taking snapshots of /etc and recovering the package selection data from /etc/ and /usr/share/doc. HTH, good luck, Johannes -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: broken /var
On Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:54:01 +0200 Johannes Wiedersich [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've also had some issues with reiserfs and have always sticked to ext3 ever since. I guess the advantages of reiserfs don't warrant experiments on important data. ext3 is rock solid on debian. YMMV. Well, I had a dodgy disk too. I switched the formatting of it to ext2 for now (switching to ext3 now is trivial). I pulled out some of my remaining hair :), and managed to fix the postfix issue. after a couple of problems (ended up having to run postfix check a number of times, make sure all the perms were correct, and comment out a few lines in the postfix script relating to usr/lib/zoneinfo). /var has all variable data of your system except configuration files. Ie. the data on /var depends on your system and cannot be just copied from ubuntu. I figured as much. log files and such are trivial, they'll be written over. Postfix now seems to work OK. I now need to recover mysql (as I only use it for Amarok, it should be easy enough to rebuild that database), and get the dpkg fixed. For some help to get from here, see http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html#s-recover-status and the part about recovering from lost /var further down that page. I took a look at that page, and the link for var.tar.gz seems to point to a link that doesn't contain that content. The two tar files on the site aren't what is expected. snapshots of /etc and recovering the package selection data from /etc/ and /usr/share/doc. What I'll probably end up having to do is to reinstall from latest etch. OTOH, how to recover the package selection data? I gather that (more or less) every file in /usr/share/doc translates somehow into a debian package, right? Johannes -- David E. Fox Thanks for letting me [EMAIL PROTECTED]change magnetic patterns [EMAIL PROTECTED] on your hard disk. --- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
broken /var/lib/dpkg/status
Greetings, apt-get complains: dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 18124 package `ksysguard': `Depends' field, reference to `xlibs': version contains ` ' Indeed, the status file at that line looks like this Replaces: kdebase ( 4:3.0.0), kdebase-doc ( 4:3.0.0), kpm ( 4:3.0.0) Depends: kdelibs4 (= 4:3.3.2-6.2), libart-2.0-2 (= 2.3.16), libc6 (= 2.3.2.ds1-21), libfam0c102, libgcc1 (= 1:3.4.1-3), libice6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libidn11 (= 0.5.13), libpng12-0 (= 1.2.8rel), libqt3c102-mt (= 3:3.3.4), libsm6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0- version of `%.250s' to allow reinstallation of backup copy), libstdc++5 (= 1:3.3.4-1), libx11-6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libxext6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libxrender1, zlib1g (= 1:1.2.1), ksysguardd (= 4:3.3.2-1sarge1) Is there a graceful way to fix it? TIA, -a
Re: broken /var/lib/dpkg/status
On Tue, Nov 08, 2005 at 05:04:43PM -0500, Aaron Stromas wrote: Greetings, apt-get complains: dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 18124 package `ksysguard': `Depends' field, reference to `xlibs': version contains ` ' Indeed, the status file at that line looks like this Replaces: kdebase ( 4:3.0.0), kdebase-doc ( 4:3.0.0), kpm ( 4:3.0.0) Depends: kdelibs4 (= 4:3.3.2-6.2), libart-2.0-2 (= 2.3.16), libc6 (= 2.3.2.ds1-21), libfam0c102, libgcc1 (= 1:3.4.1-3), libice6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libidn11 (= 0.5.13), libpng12-0 (= 1.2.8rel), libqt3c102-mt (= 3: 3.3.4), libsm6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0- version of `%.250s' to allow reinstallation of backup copy), libstdc++5 (= 1:3.3.4-1), libx11-6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libxext6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0), libxrender1, zlib1g (= 1:1.2.1), ksysguardd (= 4:3.3.2-1sarge1) Is there a graceful way to fix it? TIA, Edit the file and change it to libsm6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0) -Roberto -- Roberto C. Sanchez http://familiasanchez.net/~roberto pgp6e46rOXgOs.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: broken /var/lib/dpkg/status
On 11/8/05, Roberto C. Sanchez [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is there a graceful way to fix it? TIA,Edit the file and change it to libsm6 | xlibs ( 4.1.0) just plain editor? no fancy tools? worked, though. thanks! -a
Re: Broken /var filesystem
Joey Hess wrote: David A. Cobb wrote: I found a huge problem with my /var filesystem. Or, at least, fsck was going to take all day and more fixing 11 inode block numbers each pass. It's supposed to be possible to clean /var, or at least FHS suggests so. Not really, it only says you can delete data from /var/cache. So, I re-initialized /var. Welcome to a nearly endless world of pain. Where are your backups, BTW? Ah, yes. Backups. Waiting 'til I can afford a RW+DVD or some other suitably high-capacity device to make them onto. :-! Can anyone identify what directories and files dpkg requires to exist? /var/lib/dpkg/status (empty) If that doesn't work, I figure by tonight I will go back to my Woody-CD's and build up again from there. -- David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate By God's Grace, I am a Christian man; by my actions a great sinner. -- The Way of a Pilgrim: R.French, Tr. Free at last! Free at last! Using Linux, I'm FREE at last! Life is too short to tolerate crappy software! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Broken /var filesystem
Joey Hess wrote: David A. Cobb wrote: I found a huge problem with my /var filesystem. Or, at least, fsck was going to take all day and more fixing 11 inode block numbers each pass. It's supposed to be possible to clean /var, or at least FHS suggests so. Not really, it only says you can delete data from /var/cache. So, I re-initialized /var. Welcome to a nearly endless world of pain. Where are your backups, BTW? Can anyone identify what directories and files dpkg requires to exist? /var/lib/dpkg/status (empty) Didn't seem to help. Scr** it! Back to the CD's -- David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate By God's Grace, I am a Christian man; by my actions a great sinner. -- The Way of a Pilgrim: R.French, Tr. Free at last! Free at last! Using Linux, I'm FREE at last! Life is too short to tolerate crappy software! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Broken /var filesystem
I found a huge problem with my /var filesystem. Or, at least, fsck was going to take all day and more fixing 11 inode block numbers each pass. It's supposed to be possible to clean /var, or at least FHS suggests so. And it was messing me up horribly anyway. So, I re-initialized /var. One of the things that vanished, of course, is dpkg/apt's memory of what is installed. Right now, dpkg doesn't think dpkg is installed! Everything runs, until it needs to refer to the database. I googled around, and found some similar reports. The proposed cure involved installing 'mawk' and 'dpkg' with '--force-depends.' Then I should be able to re-install libc6, on which nearly everything depends. However, before I can get to that point, I get unable to create updated files list file for package mawk: No such file or directory. So, it looks as though I need to manually re-create at least one more directory. I checked the contents.gz files, but they only mention files that are actually present in the tarball, not those created by the installation scripts. I think, if I can get past this, I can get dpkg to re-install itself and that will cure whatever other things are destroyed. Can anyone identify what directories and files dpkg requires to exist? TIA -- David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate By God's Grace, I am a Christian man; by my actions a great sinner. -- The Way of a Pilgrim: R.French, Tr. Free at last! Free at last! Using Linux, I'm FREE at last! Life is too short to tolerate crappy software! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Broken /var filesystem
David A. Cobb wrote: I found a huge problem with my /var filesystem. Or, at least, fsck was going to take all day and more fixing 11 inode block numbers each pass. It's supposed to be possible to clean /var, or at least FHS suggests so. Not really, it only says you can delete data from /var/cache. So, I re-initialized /var. Welcome to a nearly endless world of pain. Where are your backups, BTW? Can anyone identify what directories and files dpkg requires to exist? /var/lib/dpkg/status (empty) -- see shy jo signature.asc Description: Digital signature
apt-get totally broken: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked
This morning I made the mistake of remotely killing an 'apt-get update' that had not finished running on another terminal. Now, apt-get is totally broken. Whenever I try to install anything, I get: debconf: DbDriver config: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process and everything fails. Right now I have 11 uninstallable packages. I have hunted down and killed every running process that matches apt*, dpkg*, or debconf*. Still the accursed lock remains. I can't find any obvious lock files in /var/lock or /var/cache/debconf. Judging by other traffic on this list this AM, I think my original hanging install was caused by the foomatic or openoffice.org updates. But I've now removed them, and the problem remains. Can anyone help me to remove this damnable lock? Thanks, Andrew. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: apt-get totally broken: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked
Andrew Schulman wrote: This morning I made the mistake of remotely killing an 'apt-get update' that had not finished running on another terminal. Now, apt-get is totally broken. Whenever I try to install anything, I get: debconf: DbDriver config: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process and everything fails. Right now I have 11 uninstallable packages. I have hunted down and killed every running process that matches apt*, dpkg*, or debconf*. Still the accursed lock remains. I can't find any obvious lock files in /var/lock or /var/cache/debconf. The lock is a flock() lock which can only be held open if the process remains running, so you obviously missed killing something. Try lsof. -- see shy jo signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: apt-get totally broken: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked
Andrew Schulman wrote: This morning I made the mistake of remotely killing an 'apt-get update' that had not finished running on another terminal. Now, apt-get is totally broken. Whenever I try to install anything, I get: debconf: DbDriver config: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process and everything fails. Right now I have 11 uninstallable packages. I have hunted down and killed every running process that matches apt*, dpkg*, or debconf*. Still the accursed lock remains. I can't find any obvious lock files in /var/lock or /var/cache/debconf. The lock is a flock() lock which can only be held open if the process remains running, so you obviously missed killing something. Try lsof. Okay, thanks for the tip. I rebooted for other reasons, and the problem went away. But next time I'll try lsof to hunt down the offender. Thanks, Andrew. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
