Yum loses memory when kernel is upgraded

11-03-2008, 11:51 AM

Centos 5.x

Why could this be? After I loaded a xen kernel (by mistake), yum seemed to
lose its knowledge of my CentOS version. I had that fixed by "yum install
centos-release" (I had first to fix the repo addresses for this to succeed).

But after that, I noticed that yum did not remember anymore, what packages
were already installed. It seems that the something happens to the rpm
databases. I think this is connected to kernel upgrades - that is, every
time I update the kernel, the rpm databases are spoiled... (or something).

Right now both of these commands:
yum list installed
rpm --query -a

...produce identical results (for practical purposes). Neither list contains
for example amavisd-new, which I'm sure I have installed.

Does someone know a way to prevent the "memory loss" from happening again?

- Jussi

--
Jussi Hirvi * Green Spot
Topeliuksenkatu 15 C * 00250 Helsinki * Finland
Tel. & fax +358 9 493 981 * Mobile +358 40 771 2098 (only sms)
jussi.hirvi@greenspot.fi * http://www.greenspot.fi

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11-03-2008, 01:18 PM

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 7:51 AM, Jussi Hirvi <greenspot@greenspot.fi> wrote:
> Centos 5.x
>
> Why could this be? After I loaded a xen kernel (by mistake), yum seemed to
> lose its knowledge of my CentOS version. I had that fixed by "yum install
> centos-release" (I had first to fix the repo addresses for this to succeed).
>
> But after that, I noticed that yum did not remember anymore, what packages
> were already installed. It seems that the something happens to the rpm
> databases. I think this is connected to kernel upgrades - that is, every
> time I update the kernel, the rpm databases are spoiled... (or something).
>
> Right now both of these commands:
> yum list installed
> rpm --query -a

Never seen this sort of 'forgetfulness'. Could you provide a bit more
detail as to which version of centos5 you're running, and the full
output of 'rpm -V yum centos-release' and the outpuf of 'uname -a'

--
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
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11-04-2008, 09:17 AM

Jim Perrin (jperrin@gmail.com) kirjoitteli (3.11.2008 16:18):

> Never seen this sort of 'forgetfulness'. Could you provide a bit more
> detail as to which version of centos5 you're running, and the full
> output of 'rpm -V yum centos-release' and the outpuf of 'uname -a'

Hm, my CentOS 5 is pretty recent, I believe 5.2, but cannot find this
stated... Hope this helps:

[root@mail ~]# cat /etc/issue
CentOS release 5 (Final)
Kernel
on an m

[root@mail ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 5.2 (Final)

[root@mail ~]# rpm -V yum centos-release
.......T c /etc/logrotate.d/yum
S.5....T c /etc/yum.conf
S.5....T c /etc/issue
S.5....T c /etc/issue.net
.......T c /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources
S.5....T c /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
S.5....T c /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Media.repo

[root@mail ~]# uname -a
Linux mail.greenspot.fi 2.6.18-53.1.21.el5 #1 SMP Tue May 20 09:34:18 EDT
2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Regards,
Jussi

--
Jussi Hirvi * Green Spot
Topeliuksenkatu 15 C * 00250 Helsinki * Finland
Tel. & fax +358 9 493 981 * Mobile +358 40 771 2098 (only sms)
jussi.hirvi@greenspot.fi * http://www.greenspot.fi

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11-04-2008, 09:20 AM

Jussi Hirvi (greenspot@greenspot.fi) kirjoitteli (4.11.2008 12:17):
> Hm, my CentOS 5 is pretty recent, I believe 5.2, but cannot find this
> stated... Hope this helps:

Sorry, I just found that "5.2", as is apparent from my previous email. :-)

- Jussi

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11-04-2008, 12:23 PM

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 5:20 AM, Jussi Hirvi <greenspot@greenspot.fi> wrote:
> Jussi Hirvi (greenspot@greenspot.fi) kirjoitteli (4.11.2008 12:17):
>> Hm, my CentOS 5 is pretty recent, I believe 5.2, but cannot find this
>> stated... Hope this helps:
>
> Sorry, I just found that "5.2", as is apparent from my previous email. :-)

You (and your /etc/redhat-release) say 5.2, but your kernel says 5.1
(5.2 shipped with 2.6.18-92)

Also, you seem to have made several modifications to the yum
components of the centos-release package as well as other bits. What
did you change? It's possible that these changes may be partly
responsible for your issue.

--
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
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11-05-2008, 08:07 AM

Jim Perrin (jperrin@gmail.com) kirjoitteli (4.11.2008 15:23):
> You (and your /etc/redhat-release) say 5.2, but your kernel says 5.1
> (5.2 shipped with 2.6.18-92)

Hm, ok.

"yum update kernel" did not see anything to update (that's just because the
present problem: kernel was not listed in the rpm dbs). So I did "yum list
kernel" and based on that, "yum install kernel.i686".

This time the kernel update did not erase the rpm db's (or whatever
happened, on two kernel updates before this).

So it seems that my system is now cured, at least for now... Don't know why.
:-)

Regards,
Jussi

--
Jussi Hirvi * Green Spot
Topeliuksenkatu 15 C * 00250 Helsinki * Finland
Tel. & fax +358 9 493 981 * Mobile +358 40 771 2098 (only sms)
jussi.hirvi@greenspot.fi * http://www.greenspot.fi

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11-05-2008, 12:09 PM

Jussi Hirvi wrote:

Jim Perrin (jperrin@gmail.com) kirjoitteli (4.11.2008 15:23):

You (and your /etc/redhat-release) say 5.2, but your kernel says 5.1
(5.2 shipped with 2.6.18-92)

Hm, ok.

"yum update kernel" did not see anything to update (that's just because the
present problem: kernel was not listed in the rpm dbs). So I did "yum list
kernel" and based on that, "yum install kernel.i686".

This time the kernel update did not erase the rpm db's (or whatever
happened, on two kernel updates before this).

So it seems that my system is now cured, at least for now... Don't know why.
:-)

Sounds like your RPM database was corrupted. If so, there may well be
other problems lurking. I'd try:

rm /var/lib/rpm/__*
rpm --rebuilddb
yum update

Should not hurt, and may well help avoid other problems.

Phil
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11-06-2008, 08:01 AM

Phil Schaffner (Philip.R.Schaffner@NASA.gov) kirjoitteli (5.11.2008 15:09):
> Sounds like your RPM database was corrupted. If so, there may well be
> other problems lurking. I'd try:
>
> rm /var/lib/rpm/__*
> rpm --rebuilddb
> yum update
>
> Should not hurt, and may well help avoid other problems.

You're right, I may now have packages that yum does not "see" and thus
cannot update.

I rebuilt the dbs as you suggested, but nothing seemed to change - there is
nothing new for yum to update. We'll see...

- Jussi

--
Jussi Hirvi * Green Spot
Topeliuksenkatu 15 C * 00250 Helsinki * Finland
Tel. & fax +358 9 493 981 * Mobile +358 40 771 2098 (only sms)
jussi.hirvi@greenspot.fi * http://www.greenspot.fi

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