hello everyone,

I have a problem that I can't figure out. I'm trying to update my glibc package to at least glibc-2.3.4-2.9. Currently I have the following:


[root@sandbox oracle]# rpm -qa | grep -i glibc
glibc-2.3.4-2
glibc-kernheaders-2.4-9.1.87
glibc-common-2.3.4-2
glibc-headers-2.3.4-2
compat-glibc-6.2-2.1.3.2
glibc-devel-2.3.4-2

I downloaded the glibc that I needed and tried to install it as follows:

[root@sandbox oracle]# rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2.3.4-2.9.i386.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
glibc-common = 2.3.4-2 is needed by (installed) glibc-2.3.4-2.i386


I figured, fine, I'll download the other one to satisfy the dependencies. However, when I tried to install the dependency I got the following:

[root@sandbox oracle]# rpm -Uvh glibc-2.3.4-2.9.i386.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
glibc-common = 2.3.4-2.9 is needed by glibc-2.3.4-2.9.i386


So, they need each other. What should I do in this case? I'm fairly new so I'm not sure. Should I just force it? What do you guys suggest?

Thanks

Just wanted to let you guys know I just forced it and it seems to work. I did:

[root@sandbox oracle]# rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force glibc-2.3.4-2.9.i386.rpm
Preparing... ########################################### [100%]
1:glibc ########################################### [100%]
Stopping sshd:[ OK ]
Starting sshd:[ OK ]
[root@sandbox oracle]# rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2.3.4-2.9.i386.rpm
Preparing... ########################################### [100%]
1:glibc-common ########################################### [100%]
[root@sandbox oracle]#

since, the new glibc needed a newer version of glibc-common, and the newer version of glibc-common was
held to the older version of glibc I was in a cycle. I just forced them since they were the only dependencies of each other. Everything seems to work. fine..

You probably didn't need to --force the upgrade (and doingso with a package as critical as glibc can be very dangerous). You should just need to specify both packages as arguments and RPM will figure out that you're resolving all dependencies.

upgrading glibc is a huge issue
you will now have to rebuild just about everything on you system after you figure out what user space kernel headers to use or you will have *this program has performed an illegal operation syndrom*
like you were back at Redmon
the fact that you could do this with rpms is one of the reasons rpm sucks so badly

Not true. Different 2.3.* versions of glibc are binary compatible, upgrading shouldn't cause any problems. The same is true for most other libraries as well, as long as the first two parts of the version number are same, no problem. Bigger updates (like glibc 2.2 to 2.3) are another story.