Just noticed that Slackware's pkgtool has stopped working. Installpkg, Removepkg and others work just fine, but whenever I try to do anything through pkgtool it just exits and displays the prompt.

This is what it says when run with -x:

+ SOURCE_DIR=/var/log/mount
+ ASK=tagfiles
+ '[' -L /bin/chmod -a -L /bin/chown ']'
+ TARGET_DIR=/
+ TMP=/var/log/setup/tmp
+ '[' '!' -d /var/log/setup/tmp ']'
+ ADM_DIR=//var/log
+ LOG=/var/log/setup/tmp/PKGTOOL.REMOVED
+ '[' 0 -gt 0 ']'
+ CMD_START=true
+ rm -f '/var/log/setup/tmp/SeT*'
+ '[' 0 ']'
+ dialog --title 'Slackware Package Tool (pkgtool version 10.0)' --menu '\nWelcome to the Slackware package tool.\n\nWhich option would you like?\n' 17 75 7 Current 'Install packages from the current directory' Other 'Install packages from some other directory' Floppy 'Install packages from floppy disks' Remove 'Remove packages that are currently installed' View 'View the list of files contained in a package' Setup 'Choose Slackware installation scripts to run again' Exit 'Exit Pkgtool'
+ '[' '!' 0 = 0 ']'
++ cat /var/log/setup/tmp/reply
+ REPLY='*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View'
+ rm -f /var/log/setup/tmp/reply
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = Exit ']'
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = Setup ']'
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = View ']'
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = Remove ']'
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = Floppy ']'
+ '[' '*** debug [lib/liblow.c(204)]:
VC: 0
*** info [lib/liblow.c(321)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(328)]:
/dev/gpmctl: No such file or directory
*** err [lib/liblow.c(372)]:
Oh, oh, it'\''s an error! possibly I die!
View' = Other ']'
+ SOURCE_MOUNTED=always
+ SOURCE_DIR=/root
+ DISK_SETS=disk
+ chmod 755 /
+ chmod 1777 //tmp
+ break
+ '[' disk = disk ']'
+ ASK=always
+ '[' disk = disk ']'
+ install_disk single_disk
+ mount_the_source single_disk
+ '[' always = always ']'
+ '[' '!' -d /root ']'
+ return 0
+ '[' 0 = 1 ']'
+ CURRENT_DISK_NAME=single_disk
+ PACKAGE_DIR=/root
+ '[' always = always -a '!' disk = disk ']'
+ '[' '!' -d /root ']'
+ ls '/root/*.tgz'
+ return 1
+ ASK=always
+ '[' disk = disk -o true = true ']'
+ '[' -r /var/log/setup/tmp/tagfile ']'
+ dialog --clear
+ chmod 755 / //var //usr
+ chmod 1777 //tmp

At first I thougt it's the missing gpmctl, which seems to appear in /dev when gpm is started, but even with gpmctl present pkgtool doesn't work any better (though it does not display the error message about it). Maybe the problem is with /lib/liblow.c, but what would .c file be doing in /lib in the first place??? I'm completely confused.

What is the version of yours?

Maybe that's the downside of being bleeding
edge :}


Cheers,
Tink

Whoops, I edited the original post since I didn't expect the answer to be quite this quick... Well, the problem remains anyway. The version of pkgtools package is pkgtools-10.0.0-i486-2.

Do you have gpm installed?

Try installing pkgtool from Slack 9.1. That fixed someone else's similar problem.

Ok, I tried using pkgtools 9.1 but the result is the same. Still not working. I also get similar errors from netconfig and other programs that use the dialog utility, so the problem is probably with dialog. I do have gpm installed but I don't usually run it. Starting gpm makes no difference when it comes to this problem.

Some more digging revealed that liblow.c error is related to gpm version 1.20 (which is the one I had installed). I used to need gpm's repeaters when I had an external mouse with wheel and an internal touchpad without wheel. Using gpm repeaters and configuring X to use /dev/gpmdata enabled me to switch mouses without needing to restart X. At the moment I have only the internal touchpad, so I have no need for this kind of tricks right now. Downgrade to gpm 1.19 fixed the problem for me for now.

Funny thing is that the error appears with scripts using dialog even if the gpm is not running. Also interestingly the problem with dialog has appeared quite recently and I've been using gpm 1.20 for as long as I can remember... Well... who knows what in the end causes these things to happen but I sure hope that they fix gpm 1.20 soon.

Nice to see you got it fixed, you may try also re running the gpm configuration script (it's on pkgtool -> Setup). Maybe the scripts are reading the gpm configuration (and not checking that gpm is not running) and saw a mouse there

Hmm... I don't think that would have helped. To my understanding mouseconfig edits /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm which in my system is my own because I used to do "tricks" with it. In my system mouse configuration is elsewere and there is no way that it could have been found by any script. /etc/rc.gpm is still my own (even though I downgraded my gpm) and, as I said, everything works now.