When I attempt to install or remove any package using any of the package-management tools in Debian 4.0 Stable, the 'Reading Database' step never ends, it just stays there with no disk activity.
Code:
bryans@obsi:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo aptitude
# chose to install nethack-spoilers via aptitude
Selecting previously deselected package nethack-spoilers.
(Reading database ...
# Stops here. No disk activity.
Here's the line from 'ps aux' for the instance of dpkg that aptitude started:
Code:
root 11411 0.1 3.9 9088 6292 pts/1 S+ 10:56 0:01 /usr/bin/dpkg --status-fd 11 --unpack /var/cache/apt/archives/nethack-spoilers_3.4.3-1_all.deb
And running 'lsof -p 11411' yields:
Code:
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
dpkg 11411 root cwd DIR 3,1 4096 2 /
dpkg 11411 root rtd DIR 3,1 4096 2 /
dpkg 11411 root txt REG 3,1 336456 442444 /usr/bin/dpkg
dpkg 11411 root mem REG 0,0 0 [heap] (stat: No such file or directory)
dpkg 11411 root mem REG 3,1 1672256 462378 /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
dpkg 11411 root mem REG 3,1 1241392 297571 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc-2.3.6.so
dpkg 11411 root mem REG 3,1 89370 297585 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread-2.3.6.so
dpkg 11411 root mem REG 3,1 88164 294379 /lib/ld-2.3.6.so
dpkg 11411 root 0u CHR 136,1 3 /dev/pts/1
dpkg 11411 root 1u CHR 136,1 3 /dev/pts/1
dpkg 11411 root 2u CHR 136,1 3 /dev/pts/1
dpkg 11411 root 3uW REG 3,1 0 294575 /var/lib/dpkg/lock
dpkg 11411 root 4w REG 3,1 4608 298072 /var/lib/dpkg/updates/tmp.i
dpkg 11411 root 5r REG 3,1 2165 298118 /var/lib/dpkg/diversions
dpkg 11411 root 6r REG 3,1 0 294613 /var/lib/dpkg/statoverride
dpkg 11411 root 11w FIFO 0,6 51775 pipe
I recieved a suggestion from a friend to 'rebuild the dpkg database' but I don't know how to go about doing that, or if that'll even work.