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Well I made a mistake. After installing slack64-14.2 on another, relatively new machine (big drive, memory, etc), I never set up networking. Of course, that means I did not do the step immediately after install, the 'upgradeall', etc, which I always do.
So, forgetting that, I did activate the network (well, duh) on this machine; then I tried to upgrade Thunderbird per the advisory of Mar 13 on slackware.com on this 'new' machine. duh.
LOTS of 'erased empty directories...' etc messages, which ignored, duh.
Then, trying to 'run' the new thunderbird, it just bombed with msg:
"XPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib64/thunderbird/libxul.so:
/usr/lib64/../lib64/libz.so.1: version `ZLIB_1.2.9' not found (required by /usr/lib64/thunderbird/libxul.so)
Couldn't load XPCOM."
- NOT a surprise I guess considering, just what I was just warned about during another post here - but forgot.
ick. The 'old' package is now - /var/log/removed_packages/mozilla-thunderbird-45.1.1-x86_64-1-upgraded-2020-03-23,09:18:37
type: PAK archive
The 'new' package is now - /var/log/packages/mozilla-thunderbird-68.6.0-x86_64-1_slack14.2
type: PAK archive
I have no idea what to do to 'repair', other than of course do the 'upgrade all' procedure as in slack instructions. I have the 14.2 64 DVD, but would not know how to grab the package (which is already on my machine...) ....
Hoping a complete reintall is not required. Thanks for help in advance. Lesson learned, I hope.
If networking is working, you can configure slackpkg and use it to upgrade your system to the latest patches available for 14.2; IIRC, there's been a kernel upgrade since the release, so you'll have to handle that as well.
like it has been already suggested to you in the other topic, you have to upgrade your 14.2 installation with the rest of the patches that have been released for that OS because thunderbird, for example, has been rebuilt against the newer libraries versions: the error you got, still for example, is because you haven't updated also zlib with the one in /patches, but many other errors might surface and things won't work as intended if you won't do a full upgrade.
Best guess is you'll need at least the update for zlib, but who knows if you'll need more than that. This is why you shouldn't selectively upgrade packages on stable releases. Any new patches are built against a fully updated system, so if it relies on an updated dependency, if you don't have that dependency updated, the program may fail to run.
You could also reinstall the original Thunderbird, but then you're running a seriously out-of-date and insecure Thunderbird.
Really, the best option is to just upgrade-all. It will prevent future problems like this and will ensure your Slackware has all security and bug fixes applied.
OK - thanks for input, I'm well aware I screwed this up myself, and how.
I have some other problems now.
1) I've been avoiding the kernel upgrade, since I see so many people having problems afterwards. I had hoped 15 would be out soon enuf, now too late if I 'upgrade-all'. Bottom line, this is something I do NOT know how to do. To be clear, that system (and this system with 14.2 also) do NOT have the kernel upgraded.
2) When I booted that system just now (after the failed thunderbird attempt), I noticed some error messages and 'pleas run fsck'. So, being totally unfamiliar with fsck (and no obvious help in the manpage) I just ran 'fsck' as root. NOW I find that is a no-no. I really think a warning at the top of the manpage is something obviously needed (stronger words not used). I don't know if and what 'damage' I've done, or how to find out.
3) So, even a complete reinstall looks hopeless at this time, since I will be right back where I was, needing to run the 'upgrade-all' right away, and there it is, the kernal upgrade. Nuts.
I've been able to use Slackware for years without this kind of hassle. Maybe it is not such an 'easy' system after all for me. I'm going to have to step back for a day or so and cool down.
jrc
OK I know nothing about building or installing kernels. My preference right now (other issues) is to keep the same kernel.
I read in Alien Bob's howto, 'slackware_admin:system_upgrade...',
"Never upgrade your working kernel"
This is a surprise, I thought I had to do that to be ok with 'upgrade-all', etc.
I don't see anything after that which requires to do that (kernel upgrade) later.
I am using the 'huge' kernel that came with original slack64, 14.2. I have all 9 of the kernel lines blacklisted (uncommented) in /etc/slackpkg/blacklist. I am 14.2 64-bit multilib, and also have added the suggested 3,
[0-9]+_SBo
[0-9]+alien
[0-9]+compat32
OK so now if I did use slackpkg to upgrade-all (NOT going to current or anything, just the 3-4 steps recommended to get all the 14.2 patches) .. the kernel will not be upgraded, right?
So THEN, at some point, *some* of the upgrade packages will have been added AFTER the new kernel (which I don't have) is part of the approved 14.2 system, is this correct? So this looks like a big screwup waiting to happen.
So how do I do the 'upgrade-all' part, but somehow leave out those now conflicting packages in the upgrade?
I'm hoping I could live with the 'old' (only) kernel I have, even if some of those pkgs do not get upgraded.
As an aside, the system I'm talking about appears to boot and run OK. The bootup messages do ask, '... please perform fsck' (preceeded by error message I don't have in front of me).
I've not yet done an fsck. I see some posts (not slackware) about putting a line in the fstab (I think, have to check) to run the fsck at boot. Would appreciate some advice as to how to do that in slackware (obviously as root).
After this latest screwup of mine, it occurs to me that I've been given a lot of help by slackers on here over time, and I am grateful.
I wish I had the know how (and maybe the smarts) to contribute to the slackware documentation effort, or coding, or some such. I do not have those skills, unfortunately. The little bit of coding I still do (rarely) is amateur level fortran (!) which I know is not in favor these days.
I have given a little to Pat V; I guess I should send off some more.
If you have the kernel packages blacklisted then you can go ahead with upgrade-all and those packages will remain untouched. If you want to try out the upgraded kernel, you could download the updated kernel packages from your favourite mirror and just use installpkg on them to install them aside the existing kernel. Update your grub (or lilo) to see the newly installed kernel packages and you can try that out to see if it works at next boot. If the newer kernel doesn't work then you still have the older working kernel present to fallback on. If all is well then you can safely removepkg the old kernel, update grub/lilo and away you go on the newer kernel.
Alternatively if you feel like you have nothing to loose /leaning to reinstall then you could try an unblacklisted kernel upgrade-all. It would also requiring updating grub/lilo after.
Hope this helps
Edit: If you do end up trying the upgrade-all route you should do an install-new in there just to be sure. I can't remember if new packages have been added to 14.2 but you could do it just to be sure.
There's also slackroll (which doesn't come with slackware but has a slackbuilds.org package that you can build); it comes with kernel-upgrade and kernel-clean commands. The first runs installpkg for the new kernel (leaving the old one in place so you have a fallback) while the second removes any old installed kernels; you'd only run kernel-clean after booting the new kernel and seeing if everything is working OK.
If you run the proprietary NVidia driver, you'd have to recompile it against the new kernel under runlevel 3 or 1.
3/27/2020
I'm marking this SOLVED - 'Thunderbird won't run after update' ...
There were a series of problems mostly (or all) caused by my mistakes, requiring reinstall of slack64 14.2.
When I started the reinstall, I (re)discovered this machine (purchased used from a reputable dealer in Oct 2019) is a UEFI-based machine - came with windows 10 ('home' I think). Took a while but I finally got it to boot again.
Won't bore with details.
But I am grateful for many tips along the way and I learned a few things too.
jrc
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