Linux Format forums

sirrondach · Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Is it me, or is RPMdrake broken in Mandriva 2005?

I used to be able (in Mandrake 9.2 or 10.0) to add a directory on my harddisk to the list of Software Media Sources in S.M.Manager by selecting "Local Files", giving it a name, entering the directory path and clicking on ok.
Now when I do the same procedure in Mandrivas Software Media Manager I get this message:
"Unable to add medium, errors reported: ... copying failed".
The name I've chosen, however, does get added to the Media List.

If I try to Update this Media Source, the following message appears:
"Unable to update medium; it will be automatically disabled. Errors: ...copying failed Unable to build synthesis file for medium 'Local Disk'. Your hdlist file may be corrupted".

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There appears to be a new textbox option on the 2005 Add Media Source dialog, namely "Relative path to synthesis/hdlist", which I don't remember from previous versions. I have no idea what to insert here so have been leaving it blank - is this the problem, and if so what is the correct entry?

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This problem exists on two different computers in separate locations. Has anyone else encountered it yet, and have you found a cure?
I'm lost without my local collection of rpm's at my fingertips!!

Guest · Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 6:10 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

The obvious solution to this is to have KPackage installed. You can then use this to add rpms which aren't in your urpmi sources. I couldn't find it on the DVD (maybe it comes under something else) and due to a number of other things I didn't like I deleted it. I had b0rked PCLOS and thought I'd give Mandriva a go whilst I had the coverdisk, but PCLOS is now back as my second distro.

And it DOES include KPackage!

davecs · Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Sorry that was me, didn't realise I wasn't logged in!
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mugstar · Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 8:28 pm Post subject: Re: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

jerryf70 · Guest

Have to agree with Sirrondach. RPMdrake worked fine for me in 9.1 and 10.0, now it doesn't work properly for local sources. I've never had to enter a path for an hdlist for these before.

Oh, BTW, it appears they've broken 3D support for Voodoo cards as well (although I guess most users are running something less ancient). And yes, I have set depth to 16 bit Sad

nelz · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 11:25 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Local repositories usually had the hdlist or synthesis-hdlist files in the RPM directory, so the path was simply '.'. If it really does need an hdlist file, there is a program to generate one. It's called something like createhdlist, but

sirrondach · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 10:38 am Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Thanks for the info you guys, partic. jerryf70 because at least I now know it's not me going senile!
BTW, as I said in my opening post, the Media List does get the local depository name added to it, and even though the error message appears to advise that RPMdrake couldn't add the medium nonetheless it still adds the RPM's to its database of RPM's available for installation, as becomes apparent if you then open up the RPMdake "Install Programs" utility.
Strangely enough though, it doesn't add all of them, and neither will updating the media list again - I can't make any sense of this at all.

sirrondach · Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:11 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Have solved my local rpm problem by installing Kpackage as one of our guests suggested. It does the job fine and seems to have no trouble with my local directory of rpm's. So thanks for this suggestion.

Hasn't made the rpmdrake bug go away though, has it!

nelz · Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

I'm not sure it's a bug. urpm needs the hdlist files for some of its functions. Have you tried creating them yourself?
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sirrondach · Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Nope. Don't know how to, or where to put them, as never had to do this in previous versions of Mandrake - assume that rpmdrake generated hdlists itself.

nelz · Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

See my previous post. You just run the command, giving it the name of your RPM directory, and it creates the hdlist files for you.
_________________
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)

sirrondach · Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 6:09 pm Post subject: RE: RPMdrake in Mandriva LE 2005

Yep. So I did that - the program is called genhdlist BTW - and left the generated hdlist in my rpm's directory. Then I went back to Mandriva's Software Media Manager and tried to update the "local disk" media source.
RPMdrake would have none of it and reported:-
"Unable to update medium: it will be automatically disabled. Errors: copy of[/var/cache/urpmi/partial/hdlist.local disk.cz] failed (file is suspiciously small)...copying failed Unable to build synthesis file for medium "local disk". Your hdlist file may be corrupted."

The funny thing is, it didn't disable the medium "local disk" at all, and when I switched to RPMdrake's Software Installer all of my rpm's were listed there as available for installation and I did install one just to see if it was real.

I must say this all seems like a bug to me, when a utility throws up error messages and says it's going to take a certain course of action, but doesn't do it. I think I'll throw it all back at Mandriva to see what they think.