Install new, remove old, install new again -that's what upgradepkg does, but this won't always work since you can't overwrite a file while it's in use. This is a good way to hose your system, if you try to replace something basic, like libc.

I have experienced this problem (rapid blinking cursor using view with no text) with no less that 9 machines now (that equates to 100% of my linux machines) that I have upgraded pkgtools to 10.1 either from scratch or various old versions - can't find any consistency except for it doesn't work with pkgtools 10.1 and it does every other version.

Does anyone have any idea what the workaround is to this or if there is a new version of pkgtools in the works that addresses this?

Thanks

Here is what I did to resolve it:

As root:

cp /sbin/pkgtool pkgtool.org #make backup just in case
(I use .org signifying 'original')

Then I downloaded the pkgtools-10.0.0 from the (a) slack ftp and extracted it.
Entered the /pkgtools-10.0.0-i486-1/sbin/ directory.

Opened up the pkgtool script.

I copied lines 192 to 221
Then I pasted them into the file /sbin/pkgtool overwritting lines 190 to 215 . - save and exit
(NOTE: the first and last line that I copied over in the 10.1.0 script are the same as
the first and last line that I copied from the 10.0.0 script.)
(I REALLY hope that makes scence ).

Double check the line numbers, but thats where they were for me.
SO, in the 10.1.0 pkgtool script, I am using the working 10.0.0 "view" routine.

It works and it works faster like 10.1.0 should.

good luck.
-tw

Hi!

The problem is caused by the description file of "checkinstall" (quotation marks). I think, everybody who installed it should have this problem. Try this patch against pkgtool-10.1.0:

--- /sbin/pkgtool.orig 2004-11-04 04:32:15.000000000 +0100
+++ /sbin/pkgtool 2005-01-24 18:04:49.000000000 +0100
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@
Pkgtool scans your system to determine which packages you have \
installed and prepares a list for you." 0 0
echo 'dialog $DEFITEM --item-help --menu "Please select the package you wish to view." 17 68 10 \' > $TMP/viewscr
- (cd $ADM_DIR/packages; grep '' `ls` | sed -n '/PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:/{n;s/^\([^:]*\):[^:]* *:/\1\n/;s/ */ /g;p;}') | {
+ (cd $ADM_DIR/packages; grep '' `ls` | sed -n '/PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:/{n;s/^\([^:]*\):[^:]* *:/\1\n/;s/ */ /g;s/\"//g;p;}') | {
while read name; do
read BLURB
echo " \"$name\" \"$BLURB\" \"View information about package $name\" \\" >> $TMP/viewscr

You appear to be correct. I do not have checkinstall installed, and I can use pkgtool-->view with no problems.

Slack-current since 9.0, custom 2.6.10 kernel

Installing checkinstall breaks pkgtool for me, and uninstalling it fixes pkgtool again.

I propose we get pkgtool fixed instead of checkinstall for the long term stability of pkgtool. If an improperly written package can break pkgtool, it's only a matter of time before it happens again.

Hold on - complete screw up - back to the drawing board.

-tw

hungry tom, exactly what is it that messes up the routine -what's the error with the checkinstall slack-desc file?

It seems, they have corrected it already:

a/pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-2.tgz: Fixed a couple bugs and sped up pkgtool more.

I just had to revert from pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-2.tgz to pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-1.tgz.

The pkgtools-...-1 package works fine for me and has since I installed it back in November, but the newest pkgtools-...-2 package is broken on my 10.1 beta (current) system.

FYI, my system started as a Slackware 10 stock system and has been regularly updated to current.

Ok, but the view option should definitely break if you install checkinstall. It's not checkinstall's fault, it's just the description has quotation marks (") inside, which confuse pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-1 when it generates the dialog.

This is strange, how exactly is it broken?

Well, to express it in technical terms, it goes bonkers.

It (pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-2) loads fine, but if I select the Remove option, I get a black console screen of filenames that flashes by in an instant. Then I get the standard "Packages have been removed" message that normally follows a successful package removal.

The thing is, this happens when I haven't asked Pkgtool to remove anything at all, but rather just to generate a list of installed packages, which is what choosing Remove does first when things are working properly.

However, with the previous release (pkgtools-10.1.0-i486-1, which I installed in November 2004), everything works fine, including the View function. And, yes, I do have checkinstall installed and use it frequently.

I am happy to report that the patched pkgtool solves the problem for me :-)

cccc828

Please see this thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=282998

Jim