Re: [expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Norman Zhang wrote: > > As for the "safety" of upgrading, I prefer clean installs that retain > > /home, which I keep on a separate partition for exactly that reason. I > > also back up /etc and certain subdirs of /var before the install, to > > be able to quickly get the new system's settings and data as I want > > them. > > Again thanks for your suggestions. I too prefer a clean install. But I > have never done an upgrade by retaining /home partition or other > volumes. So if I just format and reinstall 9.1/9.2 on other volumes, > will the data on /home be retained? Yes, if you make "/home" the mount point for that partition *and* are careful to not include that partition among the ones to be formatted. I usually do not tell the installer _anything_ about my /home partition, preferring to let it set up a default /home dir on the root partition at install time; later on, I will delete its contents (but not the directory itself), and edit /etc/fstab to mount my /home partition in their place, once I have determined to my satisfaction that I'm keeping that install. That seems to me to be the safest method, even if it is a tad more effort. Either way, you may find that the ownership of the files and dirs within your /home partition do not align properly with the users and groups in your new installation; this is because such information is stored within the FS in numeric form (the UID and GID numbers, not their text names), and unless the users were all created in exactly the same order in both instances, they will not match up. How to best handle this will hinge on how many users are on the box; if just a few, the "usermod" and "groupmod" commands can adjust the UIDs and GIDs, respectively, to the correct ones (the ones that correspond to the right existing dirs). For larger setups, pasting *just* the user-specific lines from the old versions into the new of the folowing three files is probably the best way to do it: /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /etc/group Be careful not to change any UIDs or GIDs for any system users (like sys, adm, disk, mail, nobody, etc. etc.), and to limit your edits entirely to data that pertains to users of the "living-and-breathing" variety. :) It should go without saying, don't mess with those three files while any user other than root - including you! - is logged in; this is all stuff you get squared away *before* you return the system to production status. > /home is running XFS (I'm not sure if this related), will the new kernel > recognized the older XFS volume? I don't see why not, but I'm no authority on XFS and the current state of the kernel's support for it. Generally, newer kernel versions will have no trouble with older filesystem formats, but the reverse can be problematic. As the kernels in 9.1 and 9.2 are merely newer entries on the same 2.4.X tree, I would anticipate that the transition should be reasonably smooth. > Also I'm running software RAID on my disks. Are there other things that > I should look for? Again, I'm not a RAID guru, and have never done an "upgrade-install" on a system that used it, so hopefully someone else can help you on this point; I will venture a guess that as long as you can identify the array to the installer properly in all respects, you *should* be okay ... but don't consider that answer a definitive one, please. I'd suggest trying to find someone who's actually done that at least once, and ask them about it. :) -- Bill Mullen [EMAIL PROTECTED] MA, USA RLU #270075 MDK 8.1 & 9.0 The engineer is neither optimist nor pessimist. He sees the proverbial half-full/empty glass and says, "The glass is twice as big as there is any need for it to be." Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi James, >> This is exactly what I am seeing. /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb restart would >> cause smbd trying to stop some arbitrary pids. For some of them I >> get warnings that they are not found. And shutdown fails. This >> doesn't happen every time I restart smbd. It seems to happen only >> when lots users are connected to Samba and memory are exhausted. May >> I ask how much RAM people use for ~100 users Samba servers? Do you >> have any recommendations that I troubleshoot this further? I'm going >> to increase the RAM to 1GB today. > > I'm not running samba this heavily. In fact anymore not much at > all, as most windows boxes are gone. (This is getting ready to change > somewhat.) But I'd start first at looking into /var/log/samba to see > what if anything this is telling you. Thank you for your help. I will keep that in mind and check /var/log/samba more frequently. Regards, Norman Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi Bill, >>> Be sure to install the "enterprise" version of the kernel (from the >>> CDs or from the update mirrors), as you need to use that to access >>> >=1GB of RAM. >> >> Thanks for your reminder. I'm using 9.0 here. Would it be safer if I >> upgrade to 9.1/9.2? I am not sure if the recent 9.0 kernel erratum has >> ACL XFS support. > > ISTR that the 9.0 kernels do not, no idea if the ones out for the later > releases do or not; hopefully, someone else has the definitive answer. > > As for the "safety" of upgrading, I prefer clean installs that retain > /home, which I keep on a separate partition for exactly that reason. I > also back up /etc and certain subdirs of /var before the install, to be > able to quickly get the new system's settings and data as I want them. Again thanks for your suggestions. I too prefer a clean install. But I have never done an upgrade by retaining /home partition or other volumes. So if I just format and reinstall 9.1/9.2 on other volumes, will the data on /home be retained? /home is running XFS (I'm not sure if this related), will the new kernel recognized the older XFS volume? Also I'm running software RAID on my disks. Are there other things that I should look for? Regards, Norman Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Norman Zhang wrote: > > Be sure to install the "enterprise" version of the kernel (from the > > CDs or from the update mirrors), as you need to use that to access > > >=1GB of RAM. > > Thanks for your reminder. I'm using 9.0 here. Would it be safer if I > upgrade to 9.1/9.2? I am not sure if the recent 9.0 kernel erratum has > ACL XFS support. ISTR that the 9.0 kernels do not, no idea if the ones out for the later releases do or not; hopefully, someone else has the definitive answer. As for the "safety" of upgrading, I prefer clean installs that retain /home, which I keep on a separate partition for exactly that reason. I also back up /etc and certain subdirs of /var before the install, to be able to quickly get the new system's settings and data as I want them. -- Bill Mullen [EMAIL PROTECTED] MA, USA RLU #270075 MDK 8.1 & 9.0 The engineer is neither optimist nor pessimist. He sees the proverbial half-full/empty glass and says, "The glass is twice as big as there is any need for it to be." Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi Bill, >> I'm going to increase the RAM to 1GB today. > > Be sure to install the "enterprise" version of the kernel (from the CDs or > from the update mirrors), as you need to use that to access >=1GB of RAM. Thanks for your reminder. I'm using 9.0 here. Would it be safer if I upgrade to 9.1/9.2? I am not sure if the recent 9.0 kernel erratum has ACL XFS support. Regards, Norman Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
On Thu, 2003-10-02 at 08:26, Norman Zhang wrote: > Hi James, > > >> May I ask use another question? I don't know if it attributed to the KDE > >> corruption. I'm seeing lots Samba sessions opened on my box, memory is > >> taken up quickly. But no swap is used. Is there a way I can troubleshoot > >> this further. I'm using the free command. When I do /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb > >> restart, I see smb fails to stop but can start. Please help. > > > > Sounds like you've got a pid that got left behind. In that it trys to > > stop pid 12283 (an arbitrary number) then it starts ... immediately dies > > on you and leaves behind a pid. After you do the smb restart have you > > done a ps ax | grep smb or /etc/init.d/smb status to see if it is in > > fact running. Sounds almost as if it's repeatedly trying to work but > > can't. Not sure here others may have more info. But something is > > starting to sound kinda fishy. > > This is exactly what I am seeing. /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb restart would cause > smbd trying to stop some arbitrary pids. For some of them I get warnings > that they are not found. And shutdown fails. This doesn't happen every time > I restart smbd. It seems to happen only when lots users are connected to > Samba and memory are exhausted. May I ask how much RAM people use for ~100 > users Samba servers? Do you have any recommendations that I troubleshoot > this further? I'm going to increase the RAM to 1GB today. > > Regards, > Norman Norman, I'm not running samba this heavily. In fact anymore not much at all, as most windows boxes are gone. (This is getting ready to change somewhat.) But I'd start first at looking into /var/log/samba to see what if anything this is telling you. James Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Norman Zhang wrote: > I'm going to increase the RAM to 1GB today. Be sure to install the "enterprise" version of the kernel (from the CDs or from the update mirrors), as you need to use that to access >=1GB of RAM. -- Bill Mullen [EMAIL PROTECTED] MA, USA RLU #270075 MDK 8.1 & 9.0 "Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi James, >> May I ask use another question? I don't know if it attributed to the KDE >> corruption. I'm seeing lots Samba sessions opened on my box, memory is >> taken up quickly. But no swap is used. Is there a way I can troubleshoot >> this further. I'm using the free command. When I do /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb >> restart, I see smb fails to stop but can start. Please help. > > Sounds like you've got a pid that got left behind. In that it trys to > stop pid 12283 (an arbitrary number) then it starts ... immediately dies > on you and leaves behind a pid. After you do the smb restart have you > done a ps ax | grep smb or /etc/init.d/smb status to see if it is in > fact running. Sounds almost as if it's repeatedly trying to work but > can't. Not sure here others may have more info. But something is > starting to sound kinda fishy. This is exactly what I am seeing. /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb restart would cause smbd trying to stop some arbitrary pids. For some of them I get warnings that they are not found. And shutdown fails. This doesn't happen every time I restart smbd. It seems to happen only when lots users are connected to Samba and memory are exhausted. May I ask how much RAM people use for ~100 users Samba servers? Do you have any recommendations that I troubleshoot this further? I'm going to increase the RAM to 1GB today. Regards, Norman Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi Glenn,
> I've seen this problem with KDE under Mandrake 8.1 and 9.1 (i.e., several
> versions of KDE). It would be really nice if KDE would delete or
> re-create any files it needs during startup. Anyway, I've found that
> deleting several KDE related files cures the problem.
>
> I've put this into my startup script (viz., /etc/rc.d/rc.local):
>
> # Remove KDE files that might cause hangup during KDE startup
> rm -rf /tmp/{dcop*,kde*,ksocket*,mcop*}
> USERS='er aoi'
> for d in $USERS ; do
>if [ -d /home/$d ] ; then
> rm -rf /home/$d/{.DCOP*,.ICE*,.mcop*,.MCOP*}
>fi
> done
>
> These seem to all be working files for KDE, and deleting them doesn't
> cause your configuration to be changed, as deleting ~/.kde would.
I tried what you suggested and now I boot into KDE again. 8) Thanks.
Regards,
Norman
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
On Wed, 2003-10-01 at 12:32, Norman Zhang wrote: > Hi James, > > >> I had one system hang, now everytime I start KDE I get KDE Session > >> Manager (ksmserver) caused an SIGSEGV error. I deleted .kde from > >> /root. But problem still persists. How can I fix this? > > > > with only a tiny bit of detail here. You could try doing an > > rpm -Fvh kdebase.xx.mdk.rpm > > > > This will refresh any hosed files in kdebase ... it could also be the > > kde-i18n file you use. One question first. If you go to runlevel 3 and > > then try startx what error does it report? > > I removed .kde/ .qt/ and all files in /root/tmp and /tmp but haven't tried > reinstalling kdebase as you recommended. Will try that after office hours. > > May I ask use another question? I don't know if it attributed to the KDE > corruption. I'm seeing lots Samba sessions opened on my box, memory is taken > up quickly. But no swap is used. Is there a way I can troubleshoot this > further. I'm using the free command. When I do /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb restart, > I see smb fails to stop but can start. Please help. > > Regards, > Norman Sounds like you've got a pid that got left behind. In that it trys to stop pid 12283 (an arbitrary number) then it starts ... immediately dies on you and leaves behind a pid. After you do the smb restart have you done a ps ax | grep smb or /etc/init.d/smb status to see if it is in fact running. Sounds almost as if it's repeatedly trying to work but can't. Not sure here others may have more info. But something is starting to sound kinda fishy. James Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[expert] Re: Can't Start KDE
Hi James, >> I had one system hang, now everytime I start KDE I get KDE Session >> Manager (ksmserver) caused an SIGSEGV error. I deleted .kde from >> /root. But problem still persists. How can I fix this? > > with only a tiny bit of detail here. You could try doing an > rpm -Fvh kdebase.xx.mdk.rpm > > This will refresh any hosed files in kdebase ... it could also be the > kde-i18n file you use. One question first. If you go to runlevel 3 and > then try startx what error does it report? I removed .kde/ .qt/ and all files in /root/tmp and /tmp but haven't tried reinstalling kdebase as you recommended. Will try that after office hours. May I ask use another question? I don't know if it attributed to the KDE corruption. I'm seeing lots Samba sessions opened on my box, memory is taken up quickly. But no swap is used. Is there a way I can troubleshoot this further. I'm using the free command. When I do /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb restart, I see smb fails to stop but can start. Please help. Regards, Norman Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
