Arch Linux

[dedanna1029]

Yeah, that's the confusing part to me - what file to call for what. So, am going to leave it alone and hope an update comes along to fix it.

[dedanna1029]

Wondering if postgresql has been working for you, with the latest updates to it?

[viking60]

I don't use it so I have to draw a blank here.

[dedanna1029]

I've downgraded postgresql back to 8.4, and it's working again - until Arch has a better system of upgrading, I'm leaving it alone. I've also put it into /etc/pacman.conf as a skip on updates (note the arrow pointing to the appropriate line here "IgnorePkg" - uncomment it, and add the packages you need to skip):

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:) cat /etc/pacman.conf
#
# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
# If upgrades are available for these packages they will be asked for first
SyncFirst   = pacman
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl -C - %u > %o
#CleanMethod = KeepInstalled
Architecture = auto

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
----> IgnorePkg   = postgresql postgresql-docs
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
#NoExtract   =

# Misc options (all disabled by default)
#UseSyslog
ShowSize
#UseDelta
TotalDownload

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#   - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages
#     have identical names, regardless of version number
#   - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
#   - URLs will have $arch replaced by the name of the architecture
#
# Repository entries are of the format:
#       [repo-name]
#       Server = ServerName
#       Include = IncludePath
#
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
#

# The testing repositories are disabled by default. To enable, uncomment the
# repo name header and Include lines. You can add preferred servers immediately
# after the header, and they will be used before the default mirrors.

#[testing]
## Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community-testing]
## Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

[archlinuxfr]
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/$arch

Next stop, what to do with older packages. I don't want to just delete them right straight away, as I may need to downgrade again, but yet I don't want them filling up root. So, I'm doing as I did with Mandriva's Cooker when I ran it, and copying the files from the cache to a folder in /home first:

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:) cp -R /var/cache/pacman/pkg '/home/dedanna/Downloads/pacman packages/11-05-2010'

Then, I will run to empty the cache in /var/cache/pacman/pkg:

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su
password
pacman -Scc

Do NOT run to empty the cache:

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rm -rf /var/cache/pacman/pkg

This will delete files in the cache that pacman needs to run - and you don't want to do that. Just run the command pacman -Scc.

If you need to downgrade a package after it's been moved out of the cache, all you need do is change the folder of where you're installing from, i.e. if I need to downgrade to something that's in the folder I just copied the cache to, for example:

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pacman -U /home/dedanna/Downloads/pacman packages/11-05-2010/pkg/<packagefilename>

I guarantee you it will fly.

I currently have 6.1 Gb in the cache alone taking up root space, and look at my root drive being taken up because of it:

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:) df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                   10M  252K  9.8M   3% /dev
/dev/disk/by-uuid/b8036618-3036-4ec9-b50c-546fcf082db3
-->                  25G   15G   11G  57% /
/dev/sdc1             299G  214G   85G  72% /media/FreeAgent_Drive
shm                   502M  716K  502M   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1              99M   15M   80M  16% /boot
/dev/sda4             127G   85G   43G  67% /home

I will post my root space when I'm through with pacman -Scc to let you see the difference (yet I've been able to save those files, in case I need to "roll back" something).

Edit: pacman -Scc done:

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:) su
Password:
[root@dedanna dedanna]# pacman -Scc
Cache directory: /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
Do you want to remove ALL files from cache? [y/N] y
removing all files from cache...

Database directory: /var/lib/pacman/
Do you want to remove unused repositories? [Y/n] n
[root@dedanna dedanna]# exit
exit
.:[ dedanna@dedanna.rocks.net : 20:53:56 : ~ ]:.
:) df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                   10M  252K  9.8M   3% /dev
/dev/disk/by-uuid/b8036618-3036-4ec9-b50c-546fcf082db3
---->                  25G  8.0G   17G  33% /
/dev/sdc1             299G  214G   85G  72% /media/FreeAgent_Drive
shm                   502M  716K  502M   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1              99M   15M   80M  16% /boot
/dev/sda4             127G   85G   43G  67% /home

As you'll notice, I chose not to remove unused repositories - I am on a revolving door for servers, and prefer to keep them revolving - if one goes down, I want the next ones available still.

Look at the difference that made in root, and the files can even be burned to cd or dvd, and used from there if there is not much /home space.

So, as you can see, I've had a rather constructive day, downgrading postgresql, getting it to not upgrade on me again, and being able to clear the cache, yet keep the files I may need.

These are NOT tips 'n tricks - they are direct heads ups, and can easily be found in the Arch wiki.

Time for bed - will return when I can again.

[viking60]

Productive day there! I think you could have removed the unused repositories too. Powerpill is going to identify and use, the 45 best repos anyway.

[dedanna1029]

Eh, meh, either way to me, makes no diff really.

[dedanna1029]

These bugs, and their comments are quite relevant, and explains why the dep handeling is as it is.
http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15581
http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15566

Edit: Ok here it goes.

Once upon a time there was a user that wanted to install firefox.

The user tried to do pacman -S firefox, but it didn't work because the all mighty pacman told him that firefox 3.2.4-1.i686.pkg.tar.gz could not be found on his mirror.
The user then tried pacman -Sy firefox. It worked and the user rejoiced, since he once again could go and troll /h/.

But all was not good.
The user had done a grave error.

When the user told the allmighty pacman to -Sy firefox, pacman did as it was told. It went and checked its database, found firefox, and noticed that firefox also wanted a new version of one of its friends, Readline.
The allmighty pacman therefor also updated readline. And it was this that would turn out to be the bane of the system.

The problem was that it was that it was no small version bump. Oh no, it was a bump from version 5 to version 6! And this ofcourse also included a .so name bump.
But the user was blissfully ignorant of all this. And after spending houers trolling /h/, he decided to go and troll /d/ too a bit, before going to sleep.
Before he went to sleep, he shut down the system, because it was quite noicy, with all the papst fans running at 6000rpm.

The next morning when the user turned on his system to check what had transpired in /b/ while he was asleep, the true horror was revealed.

Instead of getting his hello-kitty gdm login theme, he got a horrible message.
"error while loading shared libraries: lireadline.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"
Because bash (and others) depended on "readline" and not "readline<=5.x", it had not been updated together with readline. Therefor the user could no longer boot into his system.

The user struggled for houres with the system, to no avail. At last he gave up, booted his laptop and went to bbs.archlinux.org. And there he proceded to flame and rant about how a horrible os that archlinux was, and how nøøbish its developers was.
To this the glorious evil overloards on the bbs replied:

"PEBKAC. Don't upgrade single packages. Keep your system up to date. -> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57205 && http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15566 && https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=75197

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 61#p802661

[dedanna1029]

Only problem with updates -

I still have this issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=107659

Edit: I've filed with who (I think?) is the maintainer (or developer?) -- https://developer.berlios.de/bugs/?func ... up_id=4808

Thanks for the link, Joste.

[dedanna1029]

And the X one... sigh...

[viking60]

Only problem with updates -

I still have this issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=107659

Edit: I've filed with who (I think?) is the maintainer (or developer?) -- https://developer.berlios.de/bugs/?func ... up_id=4808

Thanks for the link, Joste.

Hm yes that seems to be a bug. But you don't really need it anyway Testing the suggested fix now...
Something is wrong with this line:

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from gtkPacman import gui, database

I tried to change it to gtkpacman but no luck.So I can confirm that bug!

And the X one... sigh...

I Just love it when you are being mysterious... The X one...what can it be? Why take the fun out of a good mystery right? Or is it my Alzheimer again?

[dedanna1029]

Yeah, I tried that gtkpacman fix too, but no luck, either. I've tried to chase that file down to its last line, breaking each one apart, with no luck - it's why I filed that earlier.

Nothing mysterious about X - I've already posted about it.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=838

Earlier in this thread, too -- start here: viewtopic.php?p=5046#p5046

I STILL have all screensavers turned off, no power management in effect, and still have a helluva time getting this thing to resume from blanking. Sometimes I have to hit Ctrl+F2 and Ctrl+F7 some 3 doggone times before it finally comes back - turn the monitor off and on some dozen times, the works.

Yeah, it's yer Alzheimer's LOL - been posting the crap out of it here.

[viking60]

Gtkpacman is fixed now! Wow those Germans really work fast (berlios). I tested it and it is just fine now.
Apparently it was as simple as editing python to python2 in PKGBUILD (not in /usr/bin/gtkpacman).
Pacman-notifier is broken too. Probably due to the Ruby update.