Arch Linux

grndrush

Member

From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2003-12-28

Posts: 136

Website

Xfce4 install wiped out ld.so.conf???

I reinstalled Arch on 3/7 to go back to JFS from ReiserFS (also, prior install was x86_64, current is i686). I use both KDE and Xfce4, but didn't reinstall Xfce4 until 3/12, at 16:09, according to pacman.log.

I did a pacman -Syu yesterday (I *never* go more than a week w/o doing so, and rarely more than 2 or 3 days). The 2 main updates were qt3 (3.3.8-6.1 -> 3.3.8-7) and kdelibs (3.5.9-1 -> 3.5.9-2).

I fire KDE back up, and I have *no* icons, either on the desktop OR taskbar. None. Mousing over the taskbar showed all the prior entries were still there (including K Menu), and I had no problems running anything, either from the taskbar or K Menu, by clicking on the 'blank' icon (K Menu ALSO had no icons, but still had the text for all entries). Additionally, I had a LOT of random splotches of color (mostly bright green) here and there (including either just in front of, or just behind, ALL the text entires in K Menu). This wasn't a showstopper, just a nuisance. The system seemed to work fine overall. Note KControl ALSO had no icons, but was fully functional as far as I went with it.

I downgraded kdelibs first (seemed the logical thing to do). I fire up KDE, no change. I downgrade qt3. Fire KDE back up; everything is as it should be. All icons there, no random splotches of color; exactly as things were before the first pacman -Syu above. But I was quite curious as to what had happened.

Something (sorry, I can't recall what now) prompted me to inspect /etc/ld.so.conf. To my astonishment, it contains:

#
# /etc/ld.so.conf
#

# End of file

Further, it's dated 3/12, 16:09, matching the timestamp of the Xfce4 install. ???

/etc/ld.so.cache is dated 3/28 14:30, which matches the pacman.log timestamp when I downgraded qt3 (although I never SAW an ldconfig run, nor is it noted in pacman.log). Bizarrely, my system seems to run just fine!

My archived /etc/ld.so.conf is, unfortunately, from a x86_64 install and full of lib32 entries:

#
# /etc/ld.so.conf
#

/usr/X11R6/lib

# End of file
/usr/lib/libfakeroot
/opt/kde/lib
/opt/qt/lib
/opt/lib32/lib
/opt/lib32/usr/lib
/opt/lib32/opt/qt/lib
/opt/qt/lib

Should I simply remove the lib32 (and X11R6, and the dup /opt/qt/lib) entries from this file and overwrite my empty ld.so.conf with it, and re-run ldconfig? Could someone share their current ld.so.conf so I could compare?

WHY is my system running without a hitch? I'm truly baffled at that! And why did the Xfce4 install (ver 4.4.2-1, still the current ver) apparently wipe out my ld.so.conf? Searching the 'Desktop Environments' forum found: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=45663 - which was never replied to. Searching the forums by keyword (Xfce4, qt3, ld.so.conf - each, individually) shows nothing further. ???

tigrmesh

IRC Op

From: Florida, US

Registered: 2007-12-11

Posts: 794

Re: Xfce4 install wiped out ld.so.conf???

It looks like ld.so.conf is owned by filesystem, which moved to the repos March 11, and probably got updated at the same time you installed xfce. 

As for what to leave in or take out; I was baffled by that, too.  I ended up taking out /usr/X11R6/lib, because that directory doesn't exist any more.  I left in
/usr/lib/libfakeroot because it still exists.  As far as the KDE stuff, I'd use the same test.

Edit:  keep those paths & files on the same line!

Last edited by tigrmesh (2008-03-29 19:58:54)

grndrush

Member

From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2003-12-28

Posts: 136

Website

Re: Xfce4 install wiped out ld.so.conf???

Thanks, tigrmesh. I'm going to try that now. Will report back shortly.

Edit: Well, no harm done, apparently, at least. It sure seems like I had more than 3 lines in ld.so.conf previously, but I do appear to be running OK. Will update if I notice anything, but no need to fix something that doesn't appear broken.

And thanks again tigrmesh. This is one of the weirder things that's ever happened to me using Linux - any variant! Take care.

Edit2: Looking through pacman.log, I find that I upgraded to the current version of filesystem (2008.03-2) on 3/11 at 9:09 (prior to my Xfce4 install). It had been updated twice previously, and I notice that both prior times, mkinitcpio was run at the same time; it was NOT run at the time of the upgrade to 2008.03-2. Wondering if that has anything to do with this, and if I should manually run mkinitcpio?

Last edited by grndrush (2008-03-29 22:29:26)