Help. I accidentally trashed my slackpkg updates.

staus · 05-06-2021, 09:46 PM

I have totally corrupted my update files, and slackware no longer updates anything. I tried to "fix" the update problem. I probably really fouled up by deleting all files in the /var/log/packages, /var/log/remove_packages, and /var/log/removed_scripts. I then did a slackpkg update to reinstall all files, but this failed to completely repair the problem. My new /var/log/packages file is still missing many installed or upgraded files.
Any chance to fix this, or should I bite the bullet and reinstall?

frankbell · 05-06-2021, 10:18 PM

You might try running

Code:

slackpkg clean-system

If it returns any errors, you may want to post them to this thread, as they may shed some light on what's going on.

I must say, though, that, given all the stuff you've deleted, a reinstall is likely in the offing.

You might want to take a look at this: https://docs.slackware.com/slackware:slackpkg

staus · 05-07-2021, 01:24 AM

Thanks. I tried clean-system, but it found nothing amiss.
Looks more and more like a complete reinstallation. I just hate to have to redo all the mods and 3rd party software again. It takes hours to complete.
This is probably the 4th time that I could not get slackpkg upgrade-all to install files. Been using slackware for over 15 years.

Alien Bob · 05-07-2021, 01:25 AM

If you removed the content of /var/log/packages, /var/log/remove_packages, and /var/log/removed_scripts, then nothing is going to bring those back except installing all packages again. So a fresh install would be the sanest option.

keithpeter · 05-07-2021, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by staus

I just hate to have to redo all the mods and 3rd party software again. It takes hours to complete.

I'm quite good at messing things up, so I make backups of my dot files to a .tar.gz file that I keep a copy of. I've also done things like mount an installer iso and run upgradepkg with reinstall and install-new from within the Slackware(64) directory to get back to a known state.

Assuming backups of all data might be worth a try before a fresh install?

staus · 05-07-2021, 05:15 AM

Thanks for your responses. I will do a re-installation.

mishehu · 05-07-2021, 05:31 AM

If you want to get fancy, you can install onto btrfs, and then before you do anything wild'n'crazy that might cause you to wipe out all of /var/log/packages (or in -current/15.0beta, /var/lib/pkgtools), you create a snapshot of your filesystem. Then you do your wild'n'crazy thing, and if everything is ok after that, you can delete the snapshot if you like. If this sounds of interest to you, I suggest reading up on btrfs's wiki about subvolumes and snapshots.

enorbet · 05-07-2021, 11:34 AM

I suggest in the future renaming (or baking up) first before deleting - Exit Strategy.

slackhater · 05-07-2021, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by staus

I have totally corrupted my update files, and slackware no longer updates anything. I tried to "fix" the update problem. I probably really fouled up by deleting all files in the /var/log/packages, /var/log/remove_packages, and /var/log/removed_scripts. I then did a slackpkg update to reinstall all files, but this failed to completely repair the problem. My new /var/log/packages file is still missing many installed or upgraded files.
Any chance to fix this, or should I bite the bullet and reinstall?

I'm afraid that you are done. Do fresh install (ideally something better, not Slackware :-) ). Basically, those directories are sort of "package database" which is gone, and there is no solution.

igadoter · 05-07-2021, 02:58 PM

The fix was simple - ask someone for copy of these directories. They are just text files containing description and install path. But the first is which Slackware version you were running. For custom builds it wouldn't work but for updates probably it could. You just little panicked.

slackhater · 05-07-2021, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igadoter

The fix was simple - ask someone for copy of these directories. They are just text files containing description and install path. But the first is which Slackware version you were running. For custom builds it wouldn't work but for updates probably it could. You just little panicked.

I'm trying to imagine asking that someone to send those files.

How to do that if you dont't have records what was installed? Oh I forgot ... may be because of that genious thing like "full install"

igadoter · 05-07-2021, 03:11 PM

Everything possible. But the first - OP forgot - don't panic.

slackhater · 05-07-2021, 03:13 PM

To be fair, it is a bad implementation to make links in /var/log/packages, /var/log/scripts from their corresponding directories in /var/lib/pkgtools/, because those "logs" constitute pkgtools database. Logs you can truncate, and those files you can't touch. But who cares.

igadoter · 05-07-2021, 03:17 PM

Whatever you say - is for sure true. No need to discuss anything. We are all turn into ears and listen to.

Didier Spaier · 05-07-2021, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slackhater

To be fair, it is a bad implementation to make links in /var/log/packages, /var/log/scripts from their corresponding directories in /var/lib/pkgtools/, because those "logs" constitute pkgtools database. Logs you can truncate, and those files you can't touch. But who cares.

These symlinks are only provided to allow a smooth migration from the old to the new location of the database. These kinds of things have allowed Slackware users to upgrade without a major issue since 16 July 1993.