Libc6 Trouble - Unable To Upgrade/downgrade Anything

[ajnk]

I am currently running debian armel (lenny/sid) with kernel Linux Zaurus 2.6.24-yonggun #10 PREEMPT Wed Jan 30 00:38:19 IST 2008 armv5tel GNU/Linux

I had been happily upgrading packages with apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade however on one occasion it decided to upgrade libc6 - that's where trouble began.

The libc6 upgrade failed with a kernel panic, since then i have tried various things, including manually extracting and installing the libc6_2.7-10_armel.deb manually (dpkg -x libc6_2.7-10_armel.deb libc6_extract ; cd libc6_extract ; find . | cpio -pdmuv / ), hacking the status of the package from :-

dpkg-query --status libc6
Package: libc6
Status: install reinstreq half-installed
.
.
.
Description: GNU C Library: Shared libraries
 Contains the standard libraries that are used by nearly all programs on
 the system. This package includes shared versions of the standard C library
 and the standard math library, as well as many others.

to

Package: libc6
Status: install ok installed
.
.
.
Description: GNU C Library: Shared libraries
 Contains the standard libraries that are used by nearly all programs on
 the system. This package includes shared versions of the standard C library
 and the standard math library, as well as many others.

but its to clever for that and gives :-

dpkg-query --status libc6
dpkg-query: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 18674 package `libc6':
 Configured-Version for package with inappropriate Status

If i try installing anything else in this case xterm (for no particular reason) :-

dpkg -i xterm_234-1_armel.deb
(Reading database ... 91573 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace xterm 234-1 (using xterm_234-1_armel.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement xterm ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of xterm:
 xterm depends on libc6 (>= 2.7-1); however:
  Package libc6 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing xterm (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 xterm

So I don't seem to be able to go forwards or backwards.

The installation works fine, apart from not being able to install/update any packages so I don't really want to trash it.

Does anyone have a good installed libc6-2.7-10 package installed so i could try pasting the status file entry ? or is there a legit way to force dpkg to accept it as installed ?

The only other thought I came up with was installed pdaxrom (pdaXii3 ?) on sd and using chroot or dpkg -root to force the install on the debian environment.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (reinstall is least favoured option).

[ZDevil]

When did you do the upgrade? I will try then to see if the same thing happens.

[ajnk]

It was about a week ago, hmmm also about the time I installed libqt4-devel - (so I could compile qpspmanger).

[ajnk]

Oh dear - got impatient (with the problem - not the forums)

apt-get upgrade --force-yes

oops - its now deceased (panic on reboot).

I upgraded from the 4gb Microdrive to a 16gb CF about 1 month ago - so i guess I can restore from that.

OR

I have uboot setup to boot the now defunct Debian armel install - (can I | how do I) put pdaxii3 or something similar on SD ? Useful dual boot/recovery setup

[ZDevil]

Perhaps you can fix this easier if you set up another debian rootfs on a SD and boot from there.

[ajnk]

I was unable to recover to the CF card, the restore kept failing in the same place and locking up my laptop (I removed the CF card from the Z and plugged it into my lappy via USB).

Ended up doing a mke2fs on the CF card and that seemed to fix it (did not enable journaling until after the restore)

Did an apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade and libc6-2.6.10 went out without any issues ?!?

So it looks like an FS issue all along.

Full details of how the restore was done are here :- https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showto...25660&st=15 in post 29