problems with bin/sbin portions failing to install
It turns out I sent this to the wrong place to start with, so here is attempt
two:
> > Using the unstable distribution today (oct-11-2000 at approx 3pm
> > mountain daylight time), did an apt-get update; apt-get -u dist-upgrade,
> > and then a reboot.
> > Everything appeared to be fine, there were no errors during the upgrade
> > (except for when it got to configuring sawfish and sawfish demanded to
> > be restarted *right now* (and it failed to restart using the given
> > command)).
> >
> > After rebooting however, there were various problems, which turned out
> > to be because several packages (netkit-ping, netkit-rpc, netkit-inetd,
> > ifupdown, and various other network related stuff) failed to install the
> > bin and sbin portions of their packages. This was evident from doing a
> > dpkg --listfiles on the packages in question.
> > dpkg -c on the package files in the /var/cache/apt directory however
> > showed that the missing executables were in fact present in the package
> > files, they just didnt get installed (and no errors were reported)
> > during the install process.
> >
> > Also, the various netkit packages seem to have broken dependancies.
> > removing netkit-inetd also removed netbase (why?) but reinstalling
> > netkit-inetd did not cause netbase to be installed.
> >
> > Restoring the system to a usable state was "fun".
> >
> > Yes, I am aware that unstable is unstable and bleeding edge, however,
> > something is seriously wrong when the packaging system is failing to
> > properly install stuff and not detecting that it failed. Basically, i'm
> > trying to sound the alarm that something somewhere is wrong, that may
> > otherwise go unnoticed. I have no idea how to reproduce what happened,
> > or if it would happen to anyone else; or if it was dependant on the
> > versions of stuff I had previously vs. today's version of unstable, or
> > what.
> >
> > A summary of what I did:
> > I first noticed the problem after the reboot when networking related
> > stuff failed to start. Upon logging in, I did an ifconfig to look at
> > the eth0 interface, except it failed because there was no ifconfig, I
> > then did a whereis followed by a find / -name ifconfig -print to find
> > it. It was not found. I then checked to make sure the package was
> > installed, and it was. I then did a dpkg --listfiles on the package and
> > discovered there was no ifconfig in the package. At this point, I
> > thought the package was broken in unstable, and went and grabbed a copy
> > from debian.org. It did have the proper file in it according to dpkg
> > -c, and it was the same as the copy in my /var/cache/apt/archive
> > directory. doing a dpkg --install on it caused ifconfig to be properly
> > installed. I then went looking around for other packages with this
> > problem, and dpkg --install them as well (fortunately, unlike apt, dpkg
> > will install a package even if it thinks its already installed, perhaps
> > apt needs a -force or doitanyway sort of option, as I'd really like to
> > be able to do an apt-get reinstall-dist right now, assuming the problem
> > wouldn't reoccur).
> >
> > At this point, i'm still looking to see what other packages failed to
> > install their bin portions, But I have the system back up to a usable
> > enough point to be able to send this email.
> >
> > <*> -- Know Future xxiii@cyberdude.com
> > red orange yellow green indigo violet - black blue red white blue black
> >
> >
>
> --
> see shy jo
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