SUMMARY: Re-install 2.5.1 bind, resolve stuff

Tim Evans (tkevans@eplrx7.es.dupont.com)
Tue, 13 May 1997 06:54:12 -0400 (EDT)

Yesterday, I wrote:

>For reasons into which I won't go, I need to re-install Solaris 2.5.1
>original bind (i.e., named) and libresolv stuff. What packages
>on the distribution CD-ROM contain these things? THanks.

Thanks to the following for their replies:

Glenn Satchell - Uniq Professional Services <Glenn.Satchell@uniq.com.au>
Pierre Merle <pmerle@Corp.Sun.COM>
Marcos Assis Silva <assis@npd.uel.br>
rtrzaska@uk.mdis.com (Ray Trzaska)

I'd asked this question because the recommended patch set refused to
go in, with 'pkgchk' errors, even with the unconditional flag set
on installpatch. Since the freeware bind and libresolve replacements
had been installed, and since the recommended patch set first tries
to replace bind, I'd assumed I needed to re-install the official
2.5.1 bind to get the patches installed.

Turns out I was bitten by a fairly common gotcha with installing
patches. From the Solaris FAQ:

5.53) Patch installation often fails with "checkinstall" errors.

When installing a patch, the Solaris 2.5+ patch installation
procedure will execute the script "checkinstall" with uid nobody.

If any of the patch files cannot be read by nobody or if any part
of the path leading up to the patch directory an error similar to
the following will appear:

./installpatch .
Generating list of files to be patched...
Verifying sufficient filesystem capacity (exhaustive method) ...
Installing patch packages...
pkgadd: ERROR: checkinstall script did not complete successfully
....

You can workaround this in two ways, one is to make sure that
nobody can read all patch files and execute a "pwd" in the patch
directory or add an account "install" to /etc/passwd:

install:x:0:1:installpatch braindamage:/:/bin/true

Installpatch uses "nobody" as a fallback if it cannot find the "install"
user.

I created the 'install' user, and all is well.

As to figuring out which Solaris package contains any given file,
a simple grep on /var/sadm/install/contents will return this info.

-- 
Tim Evans                     |    E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
tkevans@eplrx7.es.dupont.com  |    Experimental Station
(302) 695-9353/8638 (FAX)     |    P.O. Box 80357
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