Re: Apt error (tried other mailing list & Google), please help!

On Thu, 2004-09-23 at 19:40, GuidoZ wrote:
> Thanks so much. =)
> 
> > It's perfectly normal for the Packages file to change - in fact it'd be
> > very worrisome if it didn't after updating some packages since that's the
> > rpm database! :)
> 
> Well that makes sense. Good to hear it's not completely fubar. =P
> 
> >Please run 'strace -estat64 apt-get update' and post the entire output of that
> 
> Certainly. This does show some likely culprits...

Indeed.

[...]
> stat64("%{_dbpath}/packages.rpm", 0xbfffecfc) = -1 ENOENT (No such
> file or directory)

This is where things start going fubar, it's an actual bug (and
relatively old one) in apt I noticed today when looking at this same
strace output on my box, already fixed in the development tree. If it
weren't for this bug it'd actually work just fine for you despite the
other issue below.

> stat64("/usr/bin/aptrpm", 0xbfffecfc)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

Things usually work because this check is by default done on /bin/rpm.
Depending on how you look at it, it's either a configuration or
packaging error (a missing dependency) in the apt package you're using.
Somewhere in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d files "Dir::Bin::rpm" config item is
set to "/usr/bin/aptrpm" - delete that setting and it should start
working. Or alternatively install the package providing /usr/bin/aptrpm,
Richard can help with this...


> E: Unable to determine a suitable system type
> 
> Hmm. Well that's interesting. The first "No such file or directory" is
> true. The file it's looking for (which is finds later on I see, plus
> errors on again) is at "/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/apt.conf".

Yep, but missing /etc/apt/apt.conf is not fatal, it's just
*traditionally* the main configuration file. 

> 
> The next time it shows trouble is when it's looking for
> "packages.rpm". I was unable to find this file when searching the
> drive. (Note that nothing else seems to be broken, just apt.)
> Lastly, where it's looking for "aptrpm" at the end, here's all there
> is to do with apt there:

See above for the packages.rpm thing, "aptrpm" doesn't come with apt-rpm
(even if the name might so indicate :) nor does apt-rpm require such a
thing.

> 
> linux-box:/usr/bin # ls -l apt*
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  10034 2004-08-20 03:32 apt   **(note: this is
> a shell script)**
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  81550 2004-08-20 03:32 apt-cache
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 112124 2004-08-20 03:32 apt-cdrom
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  18919 2004-08-20 03:32 apt-config
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 225741 2004-08-20 03:32 apt-get
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 242579 2004-08-20 03:32 apt-shell
> 
> I've always used apt-get and didn't have a problem until that night.
> There were some errors running it, but that's be cause I had every
> components for every server. (It simply said it couldn't find some
> components at some servers.) After checking with a web browser, this
> held true. Also, Richard helped me fix a small typo in my sources list
> that might of caused this error as well. (I had missed a space before
> the SuSE directory.)
> 
> > Nah, this aint a reason for reinstall, it's just some silly glitch in
> > configuration someplace. We'll find it out ...
> 
> I'm more of a problem solver myself (rather then a reinstaller). I'll
> wait for another reply to hear what's next. =)

That's the spirit :)

	- Panu -