WizardStan
Mega GP Mania
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
- Messages
- 16,733
So I have a BeagleBoard as an always-on computer. This morning I sat down to get to work and... I couldn't ssh into it. No ssh, no vnc. I eventually got a monitor and was able to see that everything appeared to be working fine. I could start new terminals and instances of bash, but attempting to connect to my screen session failed. Creating a new screen locked up the terminal. Changing tty and attempting to log in elsewhere locked up. I eventually narrowed it down to library corruption.
"Oh dear, that's not good" I think. I run off SD card and spontaneous data loss is not uncommon, especially when the power goes out (I've got a UPS but it's only got a 3 minute battery). So I'll just force-reinstall the package this library is in, badda bing badda boom, everything goes back to normal. I've done this before; Pidgin is frequently corrupting itself for some reason and a quick reinstall always gets things running again. What package is it? libc6. Oh, great. For those that don't know, libc is basically the "do all the things" package; without it, there is practically nothing that can't be done. I do it anyway 'cause I've got nothing to lose. First thing it does is uninstall the existing libc6. Second thing it does is start to download the new package. I'm starting to think this might actually work. Halfway through the network dies, the download terminates, and I no longer have the ability to do, well, anything.
So here I am, restoring from a year old backup (I used to take full snapshots monthly, then I discovered that I could simply re-install corrupted packages and everything would work again. D'oh. At least I keep regular /home backups) instead of taking several bags of stuffed animals to the orphanarium.
And that's how a less than perfect SD card kept me from doing my good dead for the day. I should probably get a new card, this one has served me well for quite a few years now.
"Oh dear, that's not good" I think. I run off SD card and spontaneous data loss is not uncommon, especially when the power goes out (I've got a UPS but it's only got a 3 minute battery). So I'll just force-reinstall the package this library is in, badda bing badda boom, everything goes back to normal. I've done this before; Pidgin is frequently corrupting itself for some reason and a quick reinstall always gets things running again. What package is it? libc6. Oh, great. For those that don't know, libc is basically the "do all the things" package; without it, there is practically nothing that can't be done. I do it anyway 'cause I've got nothing to lose. First thing it does is uninstall the existing libc6. Second thing it does is start to download the new package. I'm starting to think this might actually work. Halfway through the network dies, the download terminates, and I no longer have the ability to do, well, anything.
So here I am, restoring from a year old backup (I used to take full snapshots monthly, then I discovered that I could simply re-install corrupted packages and everything would work again. D'oh. At least I keep regular /home backups) instead of taking several bags of stuffed animals to the orphanarium.
And that's how a less than perfect SD card kept me from doing my good dead for the day. I should probably get a new card, this one has served me well for quite a few years now.