Description of problem: After installing the latest versions of glibc and related rpms: glibc-utils-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm glibc-devel-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm glibc-debug-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm glibc-common-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm ncsd-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm glibc-profile-2.3.2-4.80.8.i386.rpm postgresql-libs-7.2.4-5.80.i386.rpm (also tried forcing glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8.i686.rpm, which didn't make any difference) I observed the following symptoms: When attempting to log on to Gnome, the system froze in the login process at the transitional screen between the login prompt and the desktop, for 3-4 minutes, then completed the login process showing the Gnome desktop,with the Workspace Switcher missing. When I started an X application like xterm or xemacs, it came up in the upper left ahnd corner of the screen in a non-resizable, non-movable window. With more than one x app up, there was no way to switch betwee napp windows. I could log in remotely, but if I tried to run an X app, like Xemacs, from the remote host, it didn't display on the remote host, and after several minutes, the terminal session froze and was terminated. I fixed the problem by forcing an install of the previous versions of the above rpms (glibc-2.3.2-4.80.6.i686.rpm, etc., and postgresql- libs--7.2.3-5.80.i386.rpm) --- rpm -Uvh --force glibc-2.3.2-4.80.6.i686.rpm ......... After doing this, Gnome is behaving normally again. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8 How reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1.install lates glibc and related packages, as above 2.login to Gnome 3.run xterm or xemacs Actual results: Gnome is broken Expected results: Normal operation of Gnome Additional info:
I had the exact same thing happen on one of my systems. Three others are not exhibiting any difficulty, but I had to do the same workaround on the affected system. One precursor (maybe) that I noticed on the affected system occurred after patch installation: Starting OpenOffice.org ... /usr/lib/openoffice/program/soffice.bin: relocation error: /usr/lib/openoffice/program/libvcl641li.so: undefined symbol: FT_Set_Hint_Flags Ngnome-calculator: relocation error: /usr/lib/libXft.so.2: undefined symbol: FT_Set_Hint_Flags Once I reinstalled the previous glibc version, these errors disappeared as well.
We definitely have never heard about any issues like that with any of the updates. People would have complaint a lot. The FT_Set_Hint_flags thing points to freetype. Maybe an incompatibility in the versions you were using. It might be that the problem was previously hidden by a bug in glibc, but if the new version says the symbol is missing, I trust that. You can see for yourself, run readelf -s /usr/lib/freetype.so | fgrep FT_Set_Hint_Flags I'll close the bug shortly unless substantial evidence is shown that there is something wrong in *today's* glibc code. Most compatibility problems attributed to glibc are bugs in applications which are exposed by glibc.
Closing the bug. No response received and it seems to be unrelated to glibc in any case.