Slackpkg killed my new installation.....

fancylad · 03-25-2010, 10:45 PM

going from slackware 10 to slackware64-13 seems like a huge jump in terms of an upgrade. i would think it would have just been more advisable and easier to backup what you need and then do a fresh install. but i guess you want to try to fix your machine. in that case can you provide some more details? like what do you mean you can't even log in as root? what exactly happens? can you login with another account? the fact that there is no hostname is not too concerning. just provide as many details about not being able to login as possible. if you definitely can't login you can use a live cd (the slackware install cd is one) and then mount the file system and see if you can chroot into it.

i also don't think it is fair to say that slackpkg killed your system. slackpkg is not magic and can't do the right thing under every kind of condition.

MannyNix · 03-26-2010, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvernold

I've just made the jump from Slackware 10 to Slackware 13 x64 with my new PC.

From CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT

Code:

*** INSTRUCTIONS FOR UPGRADING FROM 12.2 ***

Follow the instructions detailed in the UPGRADE.TXT located in this
  directory.  Note that upgrading from a Slackware version earlier 
  than 12.2 is NOT supported at all and will most likely not work.

Also note that upgrading from 12.2 to 13.0 (64bit) is not supported.

In my own experience, Slackpkg is a great tool if you know how to use it.
Most issues like this are caused by lack of user experience, failing to read the docs and then blaming the tools.

Of course, this happening is a nice opportunity to get more experience with the distro and its tools.
Good luck!

brianL · 03-26-2010, 04:58 AM

gvernold
Was it an upgrade or a clean install?

sjampoo · 03-26-2010, 07:10 AM

'new pc' sounds like 'clean install' (but I've been proven wrong in the past before

)

Also: for 10 to 13 -> sounds like a 'clean install' to.

Also: the 32bit mirror instead of a 64 one, did make my first slackware64 installation go bork. with the same sympoms: no name.

brianL · 03-26-2010, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjampoo

Also: the 32bit mirror instead of a 64 one, did make my first slackware64 installation go bork. with the same sympoms: no name.

Yeah, I thought I'd seen something about a mirror mix-up before. And there's the # and a space in front of the mirrors entries, if only the # is removed, that's caused some problems too.

hughetorrance · 03-26-2010, 08:36 AM

I cant see any reference to a 13 x86_64 mirror ...

# In this file you can find mirrors for the following (in this order):
# Slackware 12.2, 12.1, 12.0, and -curren

Can someone tell me how to uncomment the correct mirror for x86_64

Alien Bob · 03-26-2010, 08:40 AM

Your slackpkg is way too old.

Eric

gvernold · 03-26-2010, 09:22 AM

Sorry to not post back so quickly, I've only got internet at work so had to wait until I was back in today.

I didn't upgrade to Slackware 13, I did a fresh install and just made the jump from Version 10 to 13. I've not used any versions in-between so didn't know how much had really changed and if something had that affected my problem. I've just tried getting into my Slackware partition and all the folders are where they should be in / but some of the child folders are empty..... completely empty including slackpkg. I had a go at booting up again this morning but again, I get to the login prompt without any errors but it won't accept root as a login and the host prompt says my machine is called {none}.

I'm just about to attempt to reinstall but I will make two installations and see if I can repeat the problem again.

Sorry if I offended anyone by saying slackpkg killed my installation but slackpkg was the only thing that had run, I've never had problems with versions from 7 til 10 so it kinda did look like it was down to slackpkg.

brianL · 03-26-2010, 09:35 AM

Could be a faulty .iso or burn to DVD/CDs?

fancylad · 03-26-2010, 09:49 AM

sorry i thought you were doing an upgrade with slackpkg. did you try using a live cd to access the filesystem? if you do this then you can check to see what is missing in the environment. if you can't login make sure there is a /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow file. also make sure that there is a login binary a shell as well as any libraries that these programs depend on. if these kinds of things are missing then it's probably best to just try a reinstall as who knows what else would be missing. brianL might be correct. if the iso was corrupted or missing files then that could be the reason for your broken system.

MannyNix · 03-26-2010, 10:59 AM

Interesting, hopefully you can find out what caused it and post back.

Just for the record, slackpkg could have worked after doing steps 1 and 2 of the UPGRADE.TXT

pkgtool and slackpkg have changed a lot lately and we've gone from .tgz to txz

Well, as Pat say at the end of step 9:
I wish everyone good luck with this!

gvernold · 03-26-2010, 02:22 PM

Well I've managed to get reinstalled and tried to repeat the problem but so far it won't repeat. I've selected exactly the same slackpkg mirrors that I had before and this time it's all worked out. I have also done a quick copy of the partition that contained the installation that died on me and surely enough half the folders and files that should be there, aren't. I've checked my hard drive and it seems to be fine though someone on an IRC chat suggested that I could have had a problem with ext4 whilst I was downloading the updates.

Thanks for all the suggestions and if I ever find out what it was I'll repost on here again. Now I've got to start another post about installing Python...... thanks again all.