Perhaps it doesn't hang? Is it the case that this is just artsd running in the terminal? If I check the Process Table when it's "hung", there are two entries for artsd. One sits directly under init, the other under init > konsole > bash. If I close konsole, both dissapear.

When you reinstalled all of the Slackware packages on the list, did you use "installpkg" or "upgradepkg"? You may have more than one version of these packages installed on your computer, and that could be causing these problems. Check /var/log/packages for duplicate packages. To see all of the dropline packages you could do, eg. "ls /var/log/packages | grep "dl$". Check to be sure that you don't still have a DLG version of any of the reinstalled packages.

Brian

I used "installpkg". So had I used "upgradepkg", the dropline versions would have been removed? Okay. So it looks like I will be okay if I go through and remove the Dropline duplicates?

This is what I have listed:

This is what I get:

I would remove all of the duplicates (removepkg) and then reinstall the slack packages. You might try "upgradepkg --reinstall slackpackage.tgz", that may work, too. Test it on one of the dupes and see.

Of course, the safest way would just be to reinstall Slackware :-)

Maybe I should ask, so I don't mess THIS part up too. It is recommended that I remove all of the ".dl" packages? And the best way to do this would be with the "removepkg" command, just working down the list one by one?

I'm not clear on how to identify a duplicate. The ".dl" packages don't seem to have any equivalents. Can you give me an example of a duplicate you see in my /var/log/packages?

Maybe today is a good day to move to 12.0!

For example, you have two versions of libxml2.

If stability and saving time is your goal, go ahead and move to Slack 12 or reinstall 11. If you want to keep learning, try an upgrade to Slack 12.

Brian

Amazing.

Three whole pages of futzing around that don't get anywhere near to the actual problem, which is the resolver order.

Look in /etc/nsswitch.conf

Change the line that says...

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4

...to simply say...

hosts: files dns

Something changed (at least from when I first learned about nsswitch.conf) in the way glibc deals with missing libs which causes that run to snap right in two when mdns4_minimal returns with an error (because it's gone). I'm hoping to find time to dig through glibc's docs to make it so this fails gracefully (like it originally did when I tested it) when the library has been uninstalled before we have a 2.18 release.

I'll remind that you did have a backup of that file that you could have just restored (...and this is the main reason why).

By the way, the next time you want to post something so crass as the topic of a thread, try using "Dropline killed my cat!". It's much more shocking. :p