On Fri, Jan 11, 2002 at 10:26:10AM -0600, Matt Reynolds wrote:
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> This may not be the appropriate list for this, but as I'm not sure what the
> proper list is, I will throw myself at your collective mercy.
The correct list is probably debian-user...
>
> I have "lost" my /var/lib/dpkg/available and /var/lib/dpkg/status files in a
> FS error. Beyond the actual errors themselves, how do I recover/regenerate
> these files? I poked in the archives and found some resounding answers
> saying "Um, no", but I'm hoping I can hack on it.
[Take with a suitable amount of salt, untested]:
/var/lib/dpkg/available should be relatively easy to fix:
# touch /var/lib/dpkg/available
# apt-get update
/var/lib/dpkg/status:
I *believe* that dpkg keeps a backup in /var/backups/dpkg.status*
>
> I have said files on other boxes, of fairly similar configuration. Can I
> hack on those files to get them into a working configuration?
I wouldn't. I *believe* that dpkg uses /var/lib/dpkg/status to keep
track of what is installed. You'd be lying to dpkg if you changed the
files yourself.
> I'm loathe to reinstall, as the archives say I should, because I've had my
> laptop running beautifully for many months now and I have things just as I
> like them.
Once upon a time, I accidentally wiped /var (my days before proper
backups). So I didn't even have the files in /var/backups to play with.
I ended up making a copy of /etc, re-installing, re-mounting the old
/home and /tmp, and "apt-get install xxxx" a few times. And selectively
copy files from /oldetc to /etc. Took better part of a day (or was it
2?), but I got everything back to normal. And an upgrade in the process.
YYMV
> Any ideas? Pointers? Help?
Hope this helps
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
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