Re: How to fix hosed RPM

["Mikkel L. Ellertson" <mikkel Infinity-ltd com>]

On Fri, 31 Aug 2001, Bob Hartung wrote:

> HI,
>   My problems have escalated while trying to get CUPS and xpp going.  I was
> under the impression that I had to upgrade RPM to > 4.0.2 as xpp kept
> asking for cups-common and that needed '/usr/sbin/update-alternatives'
> which the newbie in me considered part of rpm [don't ask why].
>   So I downloaded the latest 4.0.3 from Rawhide and rpm --force it. Now
> have multiple errors.  Is there a way to correct? Or should I just blow the
> install away and install Mandrake that supports CUPS ans xpp out of the box
> since I have now wasted all 3 days of vacation vainly trying to get
> reasonable printing going on my RH7.1 box.
>
> I hope someone will answer with a useful pointer. Several questions
> regarding printing over the last 3 days have gone unresponded to - not even
> a pointer to a more suitable list.
>
> TIA
>
> Bob
>
You can try to install rpm 4.02, and the db3 rpms.  Then run rpm
--rebuilddb.  Make backups of /var/lib/rpm before you start.
You will have to use --force or --oldpackage to get 4.02 to install.

For future reference, you should not use --force when installing RPMs,
unless you KNOW it will not break things.  You also should not grab
packages from rawhide unless you are specificly advised to use it to try
and fix your problem, or you are prepared for it to break you system.

Mikkel
-- 

    Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
 for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.