Re: Again: Most programs don't run. Please help!

[Andreas Goesele <Goesele@hfph.mwn.de>]

Cameron Kerr <cameron@glissarok.localdomain> writes:

> >* Andreas Goesele (Goesele@hfph.mwn.de) spake thusly:
> 
> >> Simple description: Suddenly most programs won't start anymore but will
> >> give the error message:
> >>
> >> foo: relocation error: /lib/libnss_compat.so.2: symbol rectory,
> >> version GLIBC_2.0 not defined in file libc.so.6 with link time
> >> reference
> 
> OK, GLIBC_2.0 refers to glibc5 (or 4?). Anyway, the likely reason that it
> is not defined in libc.so.6 is because it only supports GLIBC_2.2 (glibc
> 2.2.4 actually). Normally I would have expected it to be backwards
> compatible, but perhaps the Debian Maintainer does things differently, in
> order to keep the binaries smaller. Perhaps there is a compatibility
> packages in oldlibs (libc5 package)

Thanks. But would that explanation be compatible with the fact that my
system most of the time functions all-right and then suddenly for some
time (one day and then a few minutes) not? If libc.so.6 wasn't
backwards compatible I would expect that the problem would arise all
the time. And why should the great majority of programs, in a more or
less up to date woody system, depend on glibc5 or glibc4?

I continue to be mystified ...

Andreas Goesele