libc6 broke - ldconfig IllegalI Instruction

[Frank_Rizzo]

I did a weekly apt-get update & dist-upgrade. This week, it broke barfing on configuring libc6:

.../libc6.postinst: line 360 24509 Illegal Instruction

Checking that line in the file reveals that ldconfig is causing the II.

Any ideas on how I can fix this?

[Duckula]

What are you upgrading to, unstable? If that's the case, the only thing I can tell is to wait and try again.

weekly apt-get update & dist-upgrade

I normally only do a weekly apt-get update; apt-get upgrade, no dist-upgrade... odd.

[Frank_Rizzo]

I think it's worth the gamble in upgrading to unstable as long as you know how to fix things if it goes wrong.

Unfortunately in this case I don't know how to sort this one out. I can't seem to roll back, I can't apt-get anything to update packages which may have trashed (tried ldso) I can't even dpkg .deb's

The server is running fine, but apt-get / dpkg / dselect refuse to work until libc6 finishes configuring. But libc6 can't finish configuring because ldconfig gives illegal instruction!

The only thing I'm worried about is if the server was rebooted. What state would it be in then.

[Frank_Rizzo]

I think it's worth the gamble in upgrading to unstable as long as you know how to fix things if it goes wrong.

Unfortunately in this case I don't know how to sort this one out. I can't seem to roll back, I can't apt-get anything to update packages which may have trashed (tried ldso) I can't even dpkg .deb's

The server is running fine, but apt-get / dpkg / dselect refuse to work until libc6 finishes configuring. But libc6 can't finish configuring because ldconfig gives illegal instruction!

The only thing I'm worried about is if the server was rebooted. What state would it be in then.

[Frank_Rizzo]

I'm wondering if the ldconfig file is corrupt. If I try running it with -v or --help it still gives an illegal instruction.

Any idea where I can get the file from? It's in /sbin/ and my backup script doesn't (didn't) backup that dir :(

[Duckula]

I'm wondering if the ldconfig file is corrupt

No, most probably it's just the wrong one, trapped inside a glibc transition.

I'm sorry I can't help you with this, it has never happened to me. Check the Debian mailing lists and scream (figuratively speaking) a little if nobody else has reported it before. Bug reports are very appreciated in unstable and in Debian in general.

[Frank_Rizzo]

I filed a bug report and the problem is now solved.

To fix this, you need to download updated libc6 / glibc deb packages and install them.

The files I needed for i686 are here:

ftp.debian.org/pool/main/g/glibc/

store them on the server then run:

dpkg - i each_of_the_deb_files

It now works a treat.I can continue to use apt-get and update latest files.