i cannot install any rpm files in mandrake it always gives the same error

error: cannot open lock file ///var/lib/rpm/RPMLOCK in exclusive mode
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm

i cd to the directory where the file is and then i use

: rpm -Uvh filename.i386.rpm
any suggestions

try it as root

have looked at info rpm and man rpm for the keywords "exclusive mode"?
Simon

im
logged in as root

Can you give a specific example - show everything you type in and paste the exact output.

for eg. to install the synce files I would do something like:

rpm -ivh synce*.rpm

from the directory with all the rpm's in it.

the -i says install (-U is "update" but I didn't have any version of synce at the time)

the -v says "verbose" (you could try -vv for "very verbose") which prints the error messages and tells you where it is up to.

the -h means "print hashes" and it is used with -v to show a "######..." style status bar.

all the packages start with "synce" and end in ".rpm" but are identified by whatever is in between. Using the "*" wildcard here saved typing though sometimes the files get unpacked in the wrong order.

Now, I've looked at the texinfo on rpm and the list of modes here does not include one called "exclusive mode" which is why I want to see the exact output, so I get more contextual info.

Simon

Seth Vidal, in the python-rpm mailing list, writes (in reply to Tor Hveem):

---------------------------------------
On Sun, 2004-03-21 at 21:42 +0100, Tor Hveem wrote:

> Sundag 21. mars 2004 21:33 skreiv seth vidal:
> > On Sun, 2004-03-21 at 21:30 +0100, Tor Hveem wrote:
> > > I believe this lock "feature" was introduced in RPM4.1. I am currently
> > > using RPM4.2. (Mandrake Cooker)
> >
> > I've never seen RPMLOCK in 4.1 or 4.2 at all.
>
> Silly me, Mandrake actually patches their RPM to include this lock
> functionality. But I'm still wondering how to free it from python. But maybe
> I should bug Mdk about that.
>

yah, you probably should, I've never heard of this RPMLOCK thing before
and since it is a MDK-specific thing you're best off bugging them.
--------------------------------------------

This would suggest that your version of rpm does not include the lock feature. You could try upgrading rpm to the latest version or get the patch (implied above) offa Mandrake folk.

Simon

thx
it worked

Wunderbar!

And the lesson in this is ... try google. That's how I found that ms.
TTFN
Simon