[arch-general] Still Glibc problems

[John Briggs]

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 02:11:00PM -0700, David Benfell wrote:
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> On 07/20/12 15:34, John Briggs wrote:
> > General Discussion about Arch Linux <arch-general at archlinux.org>
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 03:41:08PM -0600, D. R. Evans wrote:
> >>> pacman -Su
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> Not OK:
> >> 
> >>> [root at shack n7dr]# pacman -Su :: Starting full system
> >>> upgrade... resolving dependencies... looking for
> >>> inter-conflicts...
> >>> 
> >>> Targets (1): glibc-2.16.0-2
> >>> 
> >>> Total Installed Size:   33.94 MiB Net Upgrade Size:       0.83
> >>> MiB
> >>> 
> >>> Proceed with installation? [Y/n] (1/1) checking package
> >>> integrity
> >>> [##########################################################################################]
> >>> 100% (1/1) loading package files
> >>> [##########################################################################################]
> >>> 100% (1/1) checking for file conflicts
> >>> [##########################################################################################]
> >>> 100% error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) 
> >>> glibc: /lib exists in filesystem Errors occurred, no packages
> >>> were upgraded. [root at shack n7dr]#
> > 
> > After much investigation the only workaround for this problem I
> > could discover and I have used on my three computers this week is:
> > 
> > system reboot			: updates system with new packages. This : step is
> > critical or you could end up with : a borked system
> > 
> > # pacman -Sfu			: This forces the loading of glibc-2.16.0-2 : but
> > errors out because /lib directory exists ignore errors			: on the
> > system.
> > 
> > # /usr/lib/ld-2.16.0.so /bin/rm -r /lib
      /usr/lib/ld-2.16.so

> > 
> > # /usr/lib/ld-2.16.0.so /bin/ln -s /usr/lib /lib
      /usr/lib/ld-2.16.so

> > 
> > system reboot
> > 
> > DANGER: If the above procedure is not followed exactly you can bork
> > your system and it will need a complete rebuild.  An other
> > workaround is:
> > 
> > # system reboot
> > 
> > # pacman -Sfu
> > 
> > Ignore errors use a live CD/USB and boot Linux. # mkdir /archroot
> > 
> > # mount /dev/xxxx /archroot 	: where xxxx is the root partition
> > 
> > # cd /archroot
> > 
> > /archroot]# rm -r lib
> > 
> > /archroot]# ln -s usr/lib ./lib
> > 
> > system reboot
> > 
> > HTH
> > 
> > John
> > 
> > PS: I have not read the complete thread so I do not know if someone
> > else has already offered these solutions. JEB
> > 
> 
> You're using some tricks I didn't know about (there are, I'm sure,
> lots in that category), but I don't see how this procedure addresses
> the problem of other packages having files in /lib.
> 

It doesn't I didn't have other packages having files in /lib.
One of my machines uses wifi and I had to update the carl9170-fw package so
it was installed to /usr/lib. The residual entries in /lib was the modules
and firmware directories.

I was only seeking to get these systems working not on why they weren't
according to the news. I followed the links to manual installation and got
most of my information from there and I followed most of the sublinks too.
I made an error in the above procedures:
all instance of /usr/lib/ld-2.26.0.so should be replaced with
/usr/lib/ld-2.16.so

The system reboot is the critical step as it sets the system into a known
configuration and prevent it from borking on the next step.

If it is critical to know what packages are causing the problems use 

# pacman -Sfu and see whats left in the /lib directory or subdirectories.

You'll probably  find its the proprietary drivers that you use.

Regards

John