It turns out I sent this to the wrong place to start with, so here is attempt two:
> > Using the unstable distribution today (oct-11-2000 at approx 3pm > > mountain daylight time), did an apt-get update; apt-get -u dist-upgrade, > > and then a reboot. > > Everything appeared to be fine, there were no errors during the upgrade > > (except for when it got to configuring sawfish and sawfish demanded to > > be restarted *right now* (and it failed to restart using the given > > command)). > > > > After rebooting however, there were various problems, which turned out > > to be because several packages (netkit-ping, netkit-rpc, netkit-inetd, > > ifupdown, and various other network related stuff) failed to install the > > bin and sbin portions of their packages. This was evident from doing a > > dpkg --listfiles on the packages in question. > > dpkg -c on the package files in the /var/cache/apt directory however > > showed that the missing executables were in fact present in the package > > files, they just didnt get installed (and no errors were reported) > > during the install process. > > > > Also, the various netkit packages seem to have broken dependancies. > > removing netkit-inetd also removed netbase (why?) but reinstalling > > netkit-inetd did not cause netbase to be installed. > > > > Restoring the system to a usable state was "fun". > > > > Yes, I am aware that unstable is unstable and bleeding edge, however, > > something is seriously wrong when the packaging system is failing to > > properly install stuff and not detecting that it failed. Basically, i'm > > trying to sound the alarm that something somewhere is wrong, that may > > otherwise go unnoticed. I have no idea how to reproduce what happened, > > or if it would happen to anyone else; or if it was dependant on the > > versions of stuff I had previously vs. today's version of unstable, or > > what. > > > > A summary of what I did: > > I first noticed the problem after the reboot when networking related > > stuff failed to start. Upon logging in, I did an ifconfig to look at > > the eth0 interface, except it failed because there was no ifconfig, I > > then did a whereis followed by a find / -name ifconfig -print to find > > it. It was not found. I then checked to make sure the package was > > installed, and it was. I then did a dpkg --listfiles on the package and > > discovered there was no ifconfig in the package. At this point, I > > thought the package was broken in unstable, and went and grabbed a copy > > from debian.org. It did have the proper file in it according to dpkg > > -c, and it was the same as the copy in my /var/cache/apt/archive > > directory. doing a dpkg --install on it caused ifconfig to be properly > > installed. I then went looking around for other packages with this > > problem, and dpkg --install them as well (fortunately, unlike apt, dpkg > > will install a package even if it thinks its already installed, perhaps > > apt needs a -force or doitanyway sort of option, as I'd really like to > > be able to do an apt-get reinstall-dist right now, assuming the problem > > wouldn't reoccur). > > > > At this point, i'm still looking to see what other packages failed to > > install their bin portions, But I have the system back up to a usable > > enough point to be able to send this email. > > > > <*> -- Know Future [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > red orange yellow green indigo violet - black blue red white blue black > > > > > > -- > see shy jo
