CentOS - Oct 2013 - How should I reinstall CentOS?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Les Mikesell [mailto:lesmikesell at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 5:25 PM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] How should I reinstall CentOS?
> 
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 3:47 PM, Michael Hennebry
> <hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu> wrote:
> >
<SNIP>
> 
> > I'm not willing to put in another week of
> > effort out of a probably vain hope of discovery.
> 
> You might try running 'rpm -Va' to see if there are any surprises
in
> the list of differences between the current state and what was
> installed.
> 
> --
>    Les Mikesell
>     lesmikesell at gmail.com
Note on the rpm -Va... I had an issue recently where a package
(openoffice) would not work correctly and:
yum reinstall openoffice\* #did not help
rpm -Va #did not find ANY issues (which surprised me when I did figure
out what was wrong)

however doing a (I did a more restricted, to openoffice files, version
of)
find /usr/ -not -perm -o+r -exec ls -lhd {} +
find /usr/ -type d -not -perm -g+x -exec ls -lhd {} +
find /usr/ -type d -not -perm -o+x -exec ls -lhd {} +
found files that were not even set to write for ROOT (and in general had
NO permission for anyone else)!
The idea is basically that almost all files in /usr/ should be READABLE
by any user and almost all directories should be READABLE & EXECUTABLE
by all so that they can list and read the files in them.

I don't know if the commands at 
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/reset-rhel-centos-fedora-package-file-perm
ission.html
would have fixed the issue, because I brute forced the perms to root
writeable and then reinstalled the packages again.

BTW, I still feel a little confused on what the OP's original problem
was and why they are headed in the direction of a 'reinstall the
system'.  Seems a bit overkill for most problems.

Even when this disclaimer is not here:
I am not a contracting officer. I do not have authority to make or
modify the terms of any contract.

On Wed, 30 Oct 2013, Denniston, Todd A CIV NAVSURFWARCENDIV Crane wrote:
> BTW, I still feel a little confused on what the OP's original problem
> was and why they are headed in the direction of a 'reinstall the
> system'.  Seems a bit overkill for most problems.
gdm hangs.
All attempts at diagnosis or repair have failed.
I've done a
yum reinstall \*

Most recently I did an explicit uninstall of gdm and its dependents.
After installing them again I issued the following command:
[root at localhost] hennebry# telinit 5
[root at localhost] hennebry# Calling the system activity data collector (sadc):
Starting portreserve:                               [OK]
Enabling p4-clockmod driver (passive cooling only): [OK]
Starting irqbalance:                                [OK]
Retrigger failed udev events:                       [OK]
Enabling Bluetooth devices
user had insufficient privilege

After I got back from another virtual terminal,
the subsequent lines had appeared.
I do not have any bluetooth devices.


I really hate having to reinstall the system.
It's giving up, but I'm beaten.
What is worse, I do not even know whether the reinstall will work.

-- 
Michael   hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu
"On Monday, I'm gonna have to tell my kindergarten class,
whom I teach not to run with scissors,
that my fiance ran me through with a broadsword."  --  Lily

On Wed, 30 Oct 2013, Reindl Harald wrote:
> Am 30.10.2013 18:28, schrieb Michael Hennebry:
>> On Wed, 30 Oct 2013, Denniston, Todd A CIV NAVSURFWARCENDIV Crane
wrote:
>>
>>> BTW, I still feel a little confused on what the OP's original
problem
>>> was and why they are headed in the direction of a 'reinstall
the
>>> system'.  Seems a bit overkill for most problems.
>>
>> gdm hangs.
>> All attempts at diagnosis or repair have failed.
>> I've done a
>> yum reinstall \*
>
> and the same will happen on the rfresh install
A repetition of the past would be an impovement.
I had several months before gdm started hanging.
>> Most recently I did an explicit uninstall of gdm and its dependents.
>> After installing them again I issued the following command:
>> [root at localhost] hennebry# telinit 5
>> [root at localhost] hennebry# Calling the system activity data
collector (sadc):
>> Starting portreserve:                               [OK]
>> Enabling p4-clockmod driver (passive cooling only): [OK]
>> Starting irqbalance:                                [OK]
>> Retrigger failed udev events:                       [OK]
>> Enabling Bluetooth devices
>> user had insufficient privilege
>>
>> After I got back from another virtual terminal,
>> the subsequent lines had appeared.
>> I do not have any bluetooth devices.
>
> so disable Bluetooth services would be a start to solve the problem
>
> chkconfig --help
> chkconfig --list
>
> in general: disable *all* unsued services
> do you use NFS? if not why portreserve get started?
After getting rid of portreserve, nfslock and bluetooth,
the only change was that Enabling Bluetooth devices no longer appeared.

-- 
Michael   hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu
"On Monday, I'm gonna have to tell my kindergarten class,
whom I teach not to run with scissors,
that my fiance ran me through with a broadsword."  --  Lily