!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd!!! Invalid

[tjbates]

i get the message:

!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd

everytime i emerge a package!

Does anyone know what is it or how to resolve to error!

Thanks,

Tom

[Kloeri]

This is easy to solve.

Just rm -r /var/db/pkg/sys-fs/devfsd and remerge sys-fs/devfsd.

[tjbates]

i followed your exact instructions and it still does not remove the message??

ARGHHH

Tom

[Kloeri]

Try running /var/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py. That will scan /var/db/pkg/* for errors and will (hopefully) tell you how to fix them.

Hope this helps.

[phelan]

Try running /var/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py. That will scan /var/db/pkg/* for errors and will (hopefully) tell you how to fix them.

This one worked for me but the correct path was:

/usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py

[Kloeri]

Sorry about the typo

Glad it worked though

[ian!]

Moved to 'Portage & Programming' and made this one sticky.

[ronmon]

I've had a similar problem on my laptop for about two months now, the desktop and router boxes are fine. The error I get at the end of any emerge is:

Code: Select all

>>> Auto-cleaning packages ...
['net-mail/mailbase', '0.00', 'r5'] ['net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5', 'net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r6']
!!! COUNTER file is missing for net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5 in /var/db.
!!! Please run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.pl or
!!! Please run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py or
!!! remerge the package.

The perl script runs without error, but the python version returns:

Code: Select all

ERROR: Contents file is missing from the package directory.
       'net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5' is corrupt and should be deleted.
ERROR: COUNTER file missing from 'net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5'.
ERROR: SLOT file missing from 'net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5'.
       RE-MERGE this exact package version or unmerge and remerge.

net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5: (damaged/invalid) []
   CONTENTS is missing
   COUNTER is missing
   SLOT is missing

All combinations of emerge'ing and unmerge'ing end with pretty much the same results:

Code: Select all

!!! Unable to remove db entry for this package.
!!! It is possible that a directory is in this one. Portage will still
!!! register this package as installed as long as this directory exists.
!!! You may delete this directory with 'rm -Rf /var/db/pkg/net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5'
!!! [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/db/pkg/net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5/CBUIL@'

No sweat, just rm -Rf the directory, right? Wrong:

Code: Select all

rm: cannot remove directory `/var/db/pkg/net-mail/mailbase-0.00-r5': Directory not empty

Despite having followed the dozen or so threads on this topic, reading all the documentation I could find and doing some intense Googling, I'm still stuck with that fscking directory. Even booting from a rescue CD didn't work.

Fortunately, this doesn't actually break the system. But it is extremely annoying. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[tomk]

Probably a silly question, but have you tried rm'ing the contents of the directory? Make sure you check for hidden files, then try rm'ing the directory. Although a rm -Rf _should_ get rid of everything. Other than that have you tried moving the directory to a different name, this should at least let you re-emerge mailbase and fix the db problem. Also the inject (-i) option of emerge may be of use.

These are all things off the top of my head so may be completely wrong.

[ronmon]

Thanks for the ideas tomk, but yeah, I have tried removing the contents, renaming it and moving it to another directory. Everything fails in different ways.

I've managed to unmerge the package but I'm still stuck with the hosed directory.

UPDATE: It turns out that I was sniffing up the wrong tree (pun intended) ;) . I booted again from a rescue CD and ran reiserfsck. Bingo! It found an error that could only be fixed with --rebuild-tree. The offending directory is now history.

[nukem996]

Im having the same problem getting the following error
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd
I am running an ext3 system and the power does sometimes go out around here. Do you think its a file system problem? If it is what is the command I should run to fix it and can it screw up any of my files?

Thanks
nuke

[Halanegri]

Im having the same problem getting the following error
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd
I am running an ext3 system and the power does sometimes go out around here. Do you think its a file system problem? If it is what is the command I should run to fix it and can it screw up any of my files?

Thanks
nuke

This has already been answered above:

Code: Select all

# /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py

[kKDu]

When I run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py, I get this:

Code: Select all

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./fix-db.py", line 54, in ?
    pkgdirlist = os.listdir(pkgdir)
OSError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/var/db/pkg/sys-kernel/-MERGING-gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.0_beta11-r1.portage_lockfile/'

When I run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.pl, I get this:

Code: Select all

Grabbing db contents...
Grabbing mtimes...
fix-db: fatal: couldn't open /var/db/pkg/x11-themes/gtk-engines-mgicchikn-1.0.0/CONTENTS: No such file or directory

Also I have this problem: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=112522

[nukem996]

I finally fixed everything but this

/usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.pl
Grabbing db contents...
Grabbing mtimes...
fix-db: fatal: insufficient data for net-print/foomatic-3.0.0

Remove this package's directory from /var/db/pkg to fix this, then start this
script again. If everything worked correctly, you must remerge
net-print/foomatic-3.0.0 to not mess up any dependencies.

I remerged foomatic but I still get this error. How would I fix it?

[phelan]

When I run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py, I get this:

Code: Select all

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./fix-db.py", line 54, in ?
    pkgdirlist = os.listdir(pkgdir)
OSError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/var/db/pkg/sys-kernel/-MERGING-gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.0_beta11-r1.portage_lockfile/'

[/code]

I had the same problem. I just deleted the "-MERGING-"-files that caused an error.

[Dalcius]

To add to the mess...

cmillard root # /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py", line 54, in ?
pkgdirlist = os.listdir(pkgdir)
OSError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/var/db/pkg/dev-libs/-MERGING-openssl-0.9.7c.portage_lockfile/'

I ran the perl script (/usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.pl) and it seemed to work fine.
I have only gotten that invalid db entry once, though, at the end of my upgrade to portage -R18.

[Promit]

Anybody know why this happens?

[gOA-pSY]

while emerging/compiling nessus, my ssh connection to the gentoo box got broken. therefore the emerging process was aborted resulting in this error with the "-MERGING-" and lock files in /var/db/pkg

[binkley]

Try running /var/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py. That will scan /var/db/pkg/* for errors and will (hopefully) tell you how to fix them.

This one worked for me but the correct path was:

/usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py

This is no go for me. I've had the complaint about sys-fs/devfsd for months to my great annoyance so when I found this thread I was pretty happy. But fix-db.py produces no output beyond several empty lines. I also tried the trick of removing /var/db/pkd/sys-fs/devfsd and reemerging the package. Now that did work so I'm pretty happy about it.

I wonder why fix-db didn't report problems?

[junco]

I've tried both of the aforementioned solutions to this and still get the same problems. it doesn't happen with every package i emerge, but most. i've also tried removing the /var/.../devfsd directory, running the fix-db script, and then emerge devfsd. if anyone else has any ideas it would be really appreciated.

or perhaps maybe just someone knows if this error message is at all damaging ? (to dependncy trees or whatnot)... i wouldn't mind it so much if i knew it was harmless. thanks.

Matt

[pranyi]

I had the same problem.

Reemerging devfsd helped.

[pranyi]

I have to correct myself:

It helped for a while, but the bug came back

[TheCoop]

I've got:

Code: Select all

nervada simon # emerge -pUD world
>>> --upgradeonly implies --update... adding --update to options.

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-plugins
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-kernel
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-puzzle
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-base
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-libs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-misc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-games
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-strategy
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-tcltk
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-terms
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-admin
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-dicts
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-crypt
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-games
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-themes
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./gnome-base
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-arch
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-misc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-text
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-firewall
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-portage
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-devel
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-db
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./kde-base
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-gfx
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-dns
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-ftp
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-irc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-p2p
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-nds
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-www
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-libs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-roguelike
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-apps
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-boot
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-libs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-emulation
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-fs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-im
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-libs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-mail
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-misc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-zope
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-print
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-office
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./x11-wm
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-java
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-lang
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-libs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-perl
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-util
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./dev-python
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-benchmarks
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-wireless
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-editors
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./sys-fs
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-shells
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-sound
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-video
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./gnome-extra
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-cdr
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-doc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./app-sci
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-kids
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-misc
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-util
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-emulation
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-plugins
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./media-tv
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-simulation
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./net-analyzer
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-action
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-fps
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/./games-rpg
Calculating world dependencies ...done!
[ebuild     UD] dev-python/PyOpenGL-2.0.0.44 [2.0.0.44-r1] 
[ebuild     U ] net-nds/portmap-5b-r8 [5b-r7] 

nervada simon # 

Help?

[alinv]

What about this one:

Code: Select all

emerge something
...........................................
>>> Auto-cleaning packages ...
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd
!!! Invalid db entry: /var/db/pkg/*sys-fs/devfsd

*sys-fs ? Nice

[nathanm]

When I run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.py, I get this:

Code: Select all

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./fix-db.py", line 54, in ?
    pkgdirlist = os.listdir(pkgdir)
OSError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/var/db/pkg/sys-kernel/-MERGING-gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.0_beta11-r1.portage_lockfile/'

When I run /usr/lib/portage/bin/fix-db.pl, I get this:

Code: Select all

Grabbing db contents...
Grabbing mtimes...
fix-db: fatal: couldn't open /var/db/pkg/x11-themes/gtk-engines-mgicchikn-1.0.0/CONTENTS: No such file or directory

Also I have this problem: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=112522

The same thing happened to me (don't remember which packages though). The problem was that some package names weren't the same as the entry in /var/db/pkg/, so my solution was to create symlinks every time they (both fix-db.py & fix-db.pl) encountered a problem until it ran through completely without dying. Not the ideal fix, but it worked.