more yum update non-optimals

[Joel Rees]

On Sep 15, 2008, at 8:14 AM, Joel Rees wrote:

> [bunch of stuff about the AMD box]

yum info yum yum-utils

on the AMD box now shows the latest yum and yum-utils installed, and

yum update reports nothing found as it should.

>> My iBook G4 went through the first update, and right at the end of  
>> the last cleanup transaction (PackageKit), gave me a traceback.  
>> Something about (copied by hand, to practice my touch-typing ;)
>>
>> -----------------------------
>> dbus.connection:Unable to set arguments () according to signature  
>> u's': <type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: More items  found in D-Bus  
>> signature than in Python arguments
>> Traceback (most recent call last):
>>   File "/usr/bin/yum", line 29, in <module>
>>     yummain.user_main(sys.argv[1:], exit_code=True)
>>   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 241 in user_main
>>     errcode = main(args)
>>   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 193, in main
>>     base.doTransaction()
>>   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 432 in doTransaction
>>     self.runTransaction(cb=cb)
>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line  
>> 790, in runTransaction
>>     self.plugins.run('posttrans')
>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/yum/plugins.py", line  
>> 175, in run
>>     func(conduitcls(self, self.base, conf, **kwargs))
>>   File "/usr/lib/yum-plugins/refresh-packagekit.py", line 37, in  
>> posttrans_hook
>>     packagekit_iface.StateHasChanged('posttrans')
>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line  
>> 68, in __call__
>>     return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line  
>> 140, in __call__
>>     **keywords)
>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/dbus/connection.py", line  
>> 597, in call_blocking
>>     message.append(signature=signature, *args)
>> TypeError: More items found in D-Bus signature than in Python  
>> arguments
>> -----------------------------
>>
>> I think I got that right.
>>
>> I checked the new keys and they are in place in /etc/pki/rpm-gpg .
>>
>> Anyone else seen this? Is it worth a bug report?
>>
>> What's the usual thing to do next? keep yumming?
>>
>> Is there a yum command to check yum's internal consistency?

Searching for bits and pieces of that traceback produced some  
interesting, but not very meaningful results. Except that I learn  
that the --skip-broken plugin has been absorbed into yum itself. Hmm.

Simply scanning down the archive tree found Amitakhya Phukan claiming  
he rpm-ed the latest yum, so I tried a yum clean without errors, and  
a few yum infos as well. So I tried

yum update yum yum-utils

and it shows no dependencies. So I swagged and let yum update itself.  
Now (feeling a little like I'm skating on thin ice),

yum update

does not give me any tracebacks, but it does show

--> Processing Conflict: kernel conflicts wtih iwl4965-firmware <  
228.57.2

and stops.

yum --skip-broken update

per the FAQ (with a little fast ctl-s/ctl-q to keep things on the  
screen, I need a bigger scrollback buffer) tells me it will go ahead  
and skip the kernel and install the rest.

huh? Is it wise to skip the kernel?

What is iwl4965-firmware? yum info says it's firmware for the Intel 
(R) PRO/Wireless 4965. I don't remember having iNTEL (gag) wifi (gag)  
in here. So I check the dmesg, and that tells me something about  
needing to go to the linuxwireless site and download the latest  
firmware (version 4) for b43-phy0, and I go there are read something  
about needing to cut a broadcom (gag) blob (bleagh) out of the  
broadcom closed source drivers (gag), etc.

I feel nauseous. I'm tempted to remove the stupid wireless card and  
yum remove iwl4965-firmware.noarch. Except then I can't access the  
printer at work under Fedora. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH.

I think I'm going to take a deep breath, get some exercise and maybe  
a nap, and come back to this later.

Anyone offer me some consolation that I'm going to have to dirty up  
my nice iBook with this junk? I remember there's a Chinese company  
selling a lightweight with a MIPS-sort-of-derivative Chinese  
processor. Man, I hate monopolists and intellectual property politics.

Sorry about the stream-of-consciousness novel, here.

Joel Rees, going off to drown his sorrows in some adrenalin.