Subject: Comps file is not version 0 as expected

From: Jeroen Medema <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 15:39:05 +0200

Hello everybody,

I am quite new to Linux, so new that in fact installation does not work.
But perhaps I am doing something terribly wrong. I have dowloaded Paul
Vigay's description for installing ARMLinux, but executing this (rather
detailed) recepy results in something strange, and therefore I would
like to request your assistance.

Let me first tell you that I have the Acorn CD, and the latest version
(well, about a week old) of the ClanInstall archive from Phil Norman,
the latest versions of the RiscOS tools from Russell, the latest disk
images and rpc kernel. I am trying to do this all on a RPC, which is
StrongARM powered.

Since my RPC does not have a modem, I have transported everything via
floppies from work to home, implying a split of the CallInstall stuff
from Phil. The only difference now is the fact that I have stored the
base and instimage items in a zip file, and not in a tar file. I would
be very suprised if that would make a difference, but who knows? (I use
unzip instead of tar now, and that should work, shouldn't it? This is
all done in step 47 of Paul's recepy, the real hacker stuff!)

The first difference in response from Linux is during step 56. It does
say "Scanning available packages", but during this step the following
message appears:

  Comps file is not version 0 as expected

I have to acknowledge this, after which no of the messages Paul mentions
("package xxx at line xxx dne") is given. I suppose this is about the
comps file as found in /hd/RedHat/base, in which I also find comps.old
and comps.orig. I tried again with comps substituted with comps.orig,
but that didn't help. (I now have tried about 6 times. A restart skips
steps 1-31, as those appear to be about partitioning the hard disk, and
preparing the floppies. I have assumed that no new partitioning is re-
quired, and that the floppies are still OK.)

I continue to step 62, where I have the option to install everything
(this is not mentioned in Paul's document) and I take that option (maybe
I should take the other option, to select specific packages by hand, but
I think the main error has occurred already). This looks like a feature
that is quite recent.

The real trouble manifests itself during step 65. This is supposed to
take a long time, but within a few seconds I get the message "rebooting"
and progress stalls (I once waited more than an hour). I think this has
something to do with the earlier message, but who knows? Well, perhaps
some of you do, that's why I mail you. I hope some of you have the
answer!

Kind regards,

Jeroen
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From: Mark Koek <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 08:34:57 +0200

Jeroen Medema wrote:

> I use unzip instead of tar now, and that should work, shouldn't it? 

Well, I've been surprised about such seemingly trivial things in the
past...

>   Comps file is not version 0 as expected

Could that be because the files from the zip are somehow corrupted...?

> I have assumed that no new partitioning is required, and that the floppies
> are still OK.)

I've had a problem installing which turned out to be a disk error on one
of the floppies. This was not reported by either !WriteDisc or the
installer. !WriteDisc happily writes, and the installer just says
'rebooting' after a while and then hangs. The only way you can tell is
by the bit of noise from the drive that usually preceeds a 'disk error'
message under RISC OS.

But I don't think that's your problem, you seem to be getting further
now than I was then.

> and progress stalls (I once waited more than an hour).

The installer seems to do that when something goes wrong. At least, I've
encountered it under different circumstances. It says 'rebooting', then
doesn't.

In short: my (uninformed) guess is that there is a problem with the zip
file containing the packages. I'd try packing that again -- IIRC there's
a possibility of the long file names getting lost somewhere along the
way.

'bye,

Mark Koek

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From: Brian Brunswick <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 14:09:20 +0100 (BST)

> Could that be because the files from the zip are somehow corrupted...?
We had this. It was because there were CRs as well as LFs in the file.

Did you perhaps forget to set binary mode when you ftped the files?

-- 
The past is a fading dream, the future mere speculation - live for the moment
Brian Brunswick [email-masked]   Disclaimer  !Shortsig! <SPAM_ACCEPT="NONE">

---

From: Russell King <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 14:11:53 +0100 (BST)

> Could that be because the files from the zip are somehow corrupted...?

This sounds like the base/comps file is either corrupted or missing.
 
> by the bit of noise from the drive that usually preceeds a 'disk error'

There are loads of instances where you can write to a disk but not read back
from it.  One such error is where the disk is damaged in the data area of
a sector.  The disk controller happily writes to it and says all is fine.
Only when you read the disk again will it report an error.

The only way for WriteDisc to detect this would be to read the disk after
the writing process.  Maybe this is a feature that people want?

> encountered it under different circumstances. It says 'rebooting', then

That is intentional.  The original RedHat system used to reboot the machine
at the slightest error, which is very bad if your root filesystem is already
mounted.  I tend to think of this behaviour as being similar to a hand-grenade
with the pin removed.

My modified installer now gives you a message instead - "rebooting".  This
happens whenever the installer itself exits.  You can hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to
reboot, however the shell on tty2 (Alt-F2) should be functional.  At least
you can umount your root partition now.

> a possibility of the long file names getting lost somewhere along the

You may want to check the 'comps' file - I think that this may well be your
problem.

--
Russell King ([email-masked])

---

From: Paul Vigay <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 23:23:54 +0100

In article <[email-masked]>,

> images and rpc kernel. I am trying to do this all on a RPC, which is
[snip of problems]

I'm not sure if anyone else can confirm a problem, but the other day I did a
re-install of Linux on a machine at work and got some weird errors during the
installation. This seemed to be caused by the fact I was using the latest
(2.0.35) kernel to start off with. I started again using the old (2.0.31)
kernel and all worked fine. I then manually updated the kernel after
installing Linux with the old one.

I'm not sure if this is possibly causing a conflict somewhere.

>   Comps file is not version 0 as expected

That does indeed look like some of the error messages I got when trying to
install Linux direct to 2.0.35. You could try installing 2.0.31 from scratch
and then updating manually to 2.0.35 (follow the instructions on my page for
fixing the >24MB memory problem)

> I think the main error has occurred already). This looks like a feature

Actually, I did mention that in a round about way (because I missed it myself
the first time and manually selected everything. I agree though, it's quicker
just to click 'install everything' (and I've slightly amended my page to
reflect this)

> some of you do, that's why I mail you. I hope some of you have the

Yes, it should take at least 15 minutes if you are installing everything and
have a strongArm. It will take a lot longer if you have a slower machine. I'm
sorry I can't offer more help, but if you do re-install do let me know if it
fixes it and I'll make a note for others in my instructions.

regards,
Paul

-- 
Paul Vigay                                               Acorn Programming,
                                         __\\|//__      Internet Consultancy
Web: http://www.matrix.clara.net         (` o-o ')          & Web Design
BBS: +44 (0)1705 871531 (ansi,8n1) -----ooO-(_)-Ooo--------------------------

So, I picked an afternoon when I wasn't doing anything, and decided to rob a bank..
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