From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 11 04:27:53 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DA7DB16A419 for ; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:27:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from noackjr@alumni.rice.edu) Received: from smtp103.biz.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp103.biz.mail.re2.yahoo.com [68.142.229.217]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 9B3E013C43E for ; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:27:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from noackjr@alumni.rice.edu) Received: (qmail 73525 invoked from network); 11 Oct 2007 04:27:52 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO optimator.noacks.org) (noackjr@supercrime.org@24.30.93.225 with login) by smtp103.biz.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 11 Oct 2007 04:27:52 -0000 X-YMail-OSG: VLSLQeQVM1m6KLQleuVE_Fuq1LtazZ5lqEAqsApfkQzK9ivYVqcgyJ7qZVn8Z1MTLqPTkHrVDNhQ75IZqv9OtoYEZCCbsIQRV.XD3e5_8bwU4nFyT80- Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by optimator.noacks.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1AB3D625E; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:27:52 -0400 (EDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at noacks.org Received: from optimator.noacks.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (optimator.noacks.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id W0Xi8xSsYNwa; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:27:49 -0400 (EDT) Received: from www.noacks.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by optimator.noacks.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9BD6F615D; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:27:49 -0400 (EDT) Received: from 75.206.130.128 (SquirrelMail authenticated user noackjr) by www.noacks.org with HTTP; Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:27:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <1526.75.206.130.128.1192076869.squirrel@www.noacks.org> In-Reply-To: <20071010223442.GA99741@owl.midgard.homeip.net> References: <64910.70.130.237.37.1192052489.squirrel@www.noacks.org> <20071010223442.GA99741@owl.midgard.homeip.net> Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:27:49 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jonathan Noack" To: "Jonathan Noack" , questions@freebsd.org User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.10a MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal Cc: Subject: Re: shooting oneself in the foot with "ldconfig -v" X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: noackjr@alumni.rice.edu List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:27:53 -0000 On Wed, October 10, 2007 18:34, Erik Trulsson wrote: > On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 05:41:29PM -0400, Jonathan Noack wrote: >> Hey folks, >> I'm running 6.2-p8 and was trying to clean up my "portsclean -L" output >> today. It was reporting tons of duplicate libraries in /usr/X11R6 and >> /usr/local even though X11R6 is an alias to /usr/local. I tracked the >> problem to portclean's use of `ldconfig -elf -r` which was reporting >> directories and libraries in /usr/X11R6. I read the ldconfig manpage in >> an attempt to understand more and saw this line: >> -v Switch on verbose mode. >> >> I told myself, "Self, the '-v' option may allow you to determine what's >> going on. It can't help knowing more!" Alas, the "-v" option doesn't >> behave as advertised. Instead it clears the shared library cache >> (reference: http://www.parsed.org/tip/231/). An empty shared library >> cache means all dynamically-linked programs fail. This has the >> wonderful >> side-effect of preventing me from logging into the box to fix it (I >> logged >> off before I figured this out). "Reboot and all will be well," you say? >> Yes, on boot /etc/rc.d/ldconfig is run and it builds the shared library >> cache. Unfortunately, the box is 1,000 miles away in my apartment. :( >> >> This brings me to the question: >> Is the "-v" option broken or is the documentation out of date? > > No, the '-v' option behaves as documented and is not broken. > It is, however, intended to be used in conjunction with some other option. > > You see, running ldconfig(8) without any arguments at all will clear the > shared library cache. (Actually it will replace the cache with the files > found in the specified directories, but since none were specified...) > Adding '-v' will not change what ldconfig does, except possibly letting > it be a bit more verbose about what happens. Not according to ldconfig(8); running ldconfig without any arguments implies "-R": -R Rescan the previously configured directories. This opens the previous hints file and fetches the directory list from the header. Any additional pathnames on the command line are also processed. This is the default action when no parameters are given. The previously configured directory list was fully populated, so effectively there should have been no change as the previously configured directories were untouched and I specified no additional pathnames. > ldconfig is behaving as designed and documented, so the bug, such as it > is, > is in the design of ldconfig that lets you screw up the machine by simply > running ldconfig without any option. Are you saying that by specifying "-v" I no longer satisfied the "no parameters are given" clause and ended up in a default place in the logic? I could see how an unconditional shared library cache clear coupled with no additional action (no matching actions to pursue) could get me the results I got. If so that behavior is really confusing. IMHO a verbose switch shouldn't change behavior; it should just spam the console a lot. -Jon