680x0's Journal: Crappy Update from RedHat

So, like many RedHat users, I use the RedHat Network (and it's associated little taskbar applet) to keep my home Linux workstation updated for security and bugs. This past week, an update came out for glibc.

This is basically the main C run-time library on a Linux machine. So, just about all programs depend on it. I updated my workstation and my home server (see previous journal entry). However, that evening, I noticed my machine was back at the login screen (gdm). The machine hadn't crashed, but X had reset (logged me out).

Ok, I think, some programs may be having trouble since I swapped glibc versions out from under them. I'll reboot. I logged in again, and went off to do other stuff. I came back later: same problem. Grrr.

A day or so later, RedHat comes out with an updated version of that errata, although it says it's only for people running "non-RedHat kernels". Well, can't hurt to try, right? At the least, it didn't help.

So, I think, I'll just revert to the old glibc. I don't remember any other updates coming out, so I should be safe going back to what's on the RH9 CDs. I copy off the glibc RPMs, and reinstall them (using "--force" so it won't complain about going to earlier versions). Oh, good, now X won't even start (let alone let me log in and stay logged in).

Well, I'd downloaded the Fedora Core 1 ISO files a while ago. I'll just try that out. Looks very similar to RH9. But it didn't give me the option to install individual packages (at least not from the text-mode install).

Well, the install ran smoothly. But when it first starts, X won't run. I didn't expect their install to find and configure both graphics cards. But apparently, having 2 cards confused it enough so it couldn't get either working. When I get home tonight, I'll reinstall my XF86Config which I had before with RH9, and see how it looks. So, expect a mini-review of Fedora here soon.