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#1 2012-07-19 18:54:49

rlp10
Member
Registered: 2009-11-27
Posts: 14

Borked machine after glibc fiasco

I've borked my machine trying to fix the problems caused by the glibc change.

When I try to boot the main disk, it can't detect it and dumps me into a rescue shell.

If I boot off a rescue disk (archbang) I can mount the disk.  If I then mv lib and symlink lib to usr/lib, it still won't reboot (goes to same rescue shell, failing to detect the hard drive).

If I try to use pacman, from the rescue disk, to repair my system, such as "pacman -r /mnt/arch -S glibc" then I get the error "failed to prepare transaction (package architecture is not valid)".

If I try to chroot into my system, then I get "Failed to run command /bin/bash: No such file or directory found".

I know it's my own fault.  I promise from now on, I'll read the news on archlinux.org if pacman does anything peculiar when updating.  I've learned my lesson! smile

Help!

Last edited by rlp10 (2012-07-19 18:56:32)

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#2 2012-07-19 19:18:31

DSpider
Member
From: Romania
Registered: 2009-08-23
Posts: 2,273

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

This should fix the "architecture is not valid" problem:

# pacman -Syy
# pacman -r /mnt/arch -S glibc

You probably tried something while chrooted from an x86_64 LiveCD (into an i686 system). I experienced it myself and -Syy fixes it. It forces an update of the local db even if the db seems to be up to date.

Do you still have the original /lib folder?


PS: ArchBang is not Arch Linux. You should really take it up with them. This is the Arch Linux forum.

Last edited by DSpider (2012-07-19 19:18:55)


"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

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#3 2012-07-19 19:25:18

rlp10
Member
Registered: 2009-11-27
Posts: 14

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

DSpider wrote:

This should fix the "architecture is not valid" problem:

# pacman -Syy
# pacman -r /mnt/arch -S glibc

You probably tried something while chrooted from an x86_64 LiveCD (into an i686 system). I experienced it myself and -Syy fixes it. It forces an update of the local db even if the db seems to be up to date.

I've tried that, but I still get the same:

[root@archbang arch]# pacman -Syy
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                     105.9 KiB   151K/s 00:01 [-] 100%
 extra                   1412.0 KiB   418K/s 00:03 [-] 100%
 community               1770.6 KiB   496K/s 00:04 [-] 100%
[root@archbang arch]# pacman -r /mnt/arch -S glibc
warning: glibc-2.16.0-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
error: failed to prepare transaction (package architecture is not valid)
:: package glibc-2.16.0-2-x86_64 does not have a valid architecture
DSpider wrote:

Do you still have the original /lib folder?

Nope.  I'm a fool, I know.

DSpider wrote:

PS: ArchBang is not Arch Linux. You should really take it up with them. This is the Arch Linux forum.

The broken system is Arch Linux.  I'm just using Archbang as a rescue disk.  Or does your comment still hold?

Last edited by rlp10 (2012-07-19 19:57:34)

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#4 2012-07-19 20:42:46

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

It's a LiveCD, should still work.  Try appending --arch=appropriate arch to the end of pacman.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#5 2012-07-19 23:42:33

sultanoswing
Member
Registered: 2008-07-23
Posts: 314

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

You should be able to rescue it. I deleted my /lib folder, then it wouldn't boot ("unable to find /sbin/init") and then couldn't chroot in (until I used a liveCD). And then had to manually setup network in the shell on eth0.

Finally could reinstall glibc using pacman (once properly chrooted), and all is well again.


6.5.3.arch1-1(x86_64) w/Gnome 44.4
Arch on: ASUS Pro-PRIME x470, AMD 5800X3D, AMD 6800XT, 32GB, | Intel NUC 7i5RYK | ASUS ux303ua | Surface Laptop

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#6 2012-07-20 01:03:28

jwbirdsong
Member
From: Western KS USA
Registered: 2006-11-25
Posts: 173

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

OP :
See also HERE


PLEASE read and try to FIX/FILE BUGS instead of assuming other have/will.

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#7 2012-07-20 04:33:32

sonoran
Member
From: sonoran desert
Registered: 2009-01-12
Posts: 192

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

I've never tried archbang so I don't know what is in its pacman.conf, but you might try forcing pacman to use all the settings from your arch system by adding the -b and --config options, and the appropriate paths.

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#8 2012-07-20 08:38:05

rlp10
Member
Registered: 2009-11-27
Posts: 14

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

I'm very grateful for the helpful replies.

I seem to have gotten most things working now.  In the end, I booted from a rescue disk and mounted my hard disk.  On the hard disk I made copies of lib, usr/lib, bin, and usr/bin and then overwrote them with the same directories from the rescue disk.  This is probably a very bad idea and the sort of recklessness that got me in this situation in the first place.  If someone is reading this thread in the future for help and ideas then my advice is, "Be ye not so foolish".

Anyway, I could then chroot in and pacman seemed to function.  I reinstalled all the packages with pacman and then deleted any files that still weren't owned by any package in those directories (using this script).

I've still got to reinstall packer and anything that wasn't in a package previously.  Also, although the system works fine in a chroot, it still won't boot, as it times out looking for the first disk.  I think that is a problem though that I need to investigate myself, and begin a separate thread for, if I still need help.

Again, sincerely thank you for all your replies.  The Arch community is excellent.

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#9 2012-09-28 20:07:08

jamtat
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 224

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

I'm facing a problem similar to the one discussed in this thread and need to ask some help before digging myself any deeper into a hole. First, some relevant background.

I've got an eeepc I stopped using some months ago: ever since my wife sprayed water onto the keyboard while I was working with it, which, not surprisingly, caused the keyboard to stop working, I've become disillusioned with it. What good is a compact netbook if you have to drag around an external keyboard with it? As you might guess, the machine was running Arch.

Recently a friend asked me if I would pass this machine along to her since it's just collecting dust here, and I agreed. She wanted me to install an on-screen keyboard before passing it along to her, which seemed simple enough.

Well, the system had not been updated in a long time, and the first order of business was to install an upgraded pacman. That upgrade, in turn, required other packages to be updated as well. I was running into hitches and not paying very close attention since this is not any kind of mission-critical system: I used the -f switch on a couple of packages that needed updating, among which was glibc. Then the system lost track of all binaries and wouldn't boot (kernel panic).

It's gone downhill since then. I've tried chroot'ing in to fix the system, which initially would not work (couldn't find /bin/bash). I untarred the glibc package that was in the system into its root after renaming the /lib directory. I still could not chroot into the system owing to some missing libraries, so I copied over a couple of libraries from the iso I was running (it's Arch, same architecture). I was able to chroot after that but could not run pacman (missing libraries). Then I tried running pacman -U /location/of/glibc-package -r /mnt/arch, which succeeded. But I can't boot into the system now: it won't respond to keyboard input, but only pops up messages about USB (I'm using an external USB keyboard) when I try typing into the login window. Likewise, I still can't do anything with pacman while chrooted in owing to other missing libraries.

So I'm kinda stuck. I've begun looking into pacman -r /mnt/arch as discussed in this thread as providing a possible resolution. Can an -Syu be done using this method? Any input on whether that might help me beyond the impasse I've gotten into here?

In the end, no critical data is going to be lost if I have to reformat the disk on this machine and start over--though that might be more work than attempting to rescue the existing system. Any tips on things I can try?

Thanks,
James

Last edited by jamtat (2012-09-28 20:13:01)

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#10 2012-09-28 22:09:25

jamtat
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 224

Re: Borked machine after glibc fiasco

By means of pacman -r /mnt/arch -S package-name I've managed to install enough libraries to get pacman to run while chroot'ed in. But for some reason installing pcre, one of the missing libraries the system still complains about, doesn't "take." It says the installation succeeds, but the system still complains about it being missing. The system still won't take any keyboard input unless I chroot in. Things seem to be rather seriously screwed up. I'm thinking of just chrooting and seeing if I can do pacman -Syu. Any input on this, anyone?

Last edited by jamtat (2012-09-29 00:01:47)

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