Description of problem: I have been updating this system using yum since Feb. 2005 and problem appeared probably as long ago and still is unresolved. I did rpm -e kernel-devel as a wildcard and it didn't work so I tried to individually uninstall and the problem appeared. Now rpm consumes all memory when I do it and the result is always the same: rpm -e kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1688_FC5 memory alloc (4 bytes) returned NULL. I tried rebuilding the database and it didn't work. ALso I tried using --noscripts and --justdb to no avail. I found 2 people with the problem Googling. One had a peoples kernel and no one replied. The other person said he had to remove a kernel-smp to solve the problem-I don't have any kernel-smp just cman and dlm. Everything else works great and I removed all my kernel rpms except last 5 or so individually. I removed all /lib/modules, /usr/src/kernels and /boot stuff that was unremovable by rpm manually. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Maybe if you get frustrated trying to remove dozens of kernel-devel rpms and wildcard it or just try to list all of them individually on one line for removal? Steps to Reproduce: 1. rpm -e kernel-devel-a_kernel 2. 3. Actual results: rpm consumes all memory and returns with this message: memory alloc (4 bytes) returned NULL. Expected results: removal of kernel-devel Additional info:
How many kernels (of all flavours do you have installed?) rpm -qa \*kernel\*
(In reply to comment #1) > How many kernels (of all flavours do you have installed?) > > rpm -qa \*kernel\* > [root@kmberry kmberry]# rpm -q kernel kernel-2.6.15-1.1975_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1969_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1955_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1948_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1977_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1991_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1996_FC5 [root@kmberry kmberry]# rpm -q kernel-devel kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1806_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1713_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1756_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1688_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1948_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1977_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1788_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1826.2.5_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1739_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1696_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1796_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1715_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1712_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1765_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1743_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1872_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1783_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1740_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1777_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1786_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1805_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1955_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1729_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1800_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1682_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1719_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1928_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1707_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1760_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1752_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1939_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1749_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1674_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1807_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1969_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1826.2.10_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1975_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1991_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1996_FC5 [root@kmberry kmberry]#
[root@kmberry kmberry]# rpm -qa \*kernel\* kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1740_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1707_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1713_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1682_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1786_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1739_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1800_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1756_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1928_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1991_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1765_FC5 kernel-doc-2.6.15-1.1996_FC5 dlm-kernel-2.6.15.0-20051219.162641.FC5.9.7 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1752_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1743_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1783_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1955_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1975_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1872_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1719_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1939_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1948_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1807_FC5 dlm-kernel-2.6.15.0-20051219.162641.FC5.9.3 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1826.2.5_FC5 cman-kernel-2.6.15.0-20051219.162641.FC5.11.7 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1977_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1696_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1729_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1969_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1969_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1715_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1826.2.10_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1688_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1674_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1948_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1777_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1788_FC5 cman-kernel-2.6.15.0-20051219.162641.FC5.11.4 kernel-2.6.15-1.1991_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1760_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1955_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1805_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1996_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1749_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1806_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.1996_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1712_FC5 kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1796_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1975_FC5 kernel-2.6.15-1.1977_FC5 [root@kmberry kmberry]#
How much memory do you have on this machine?
(In reply to comment #4) > How much memory do you have on this machine? 512 MB
Here is some more information: http://www.thelinuxpimp.com/main/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=579 last seen on March 15, 2006 and dated October 14, 2004. Here is another: http://linux.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/Fedora/2004-04/2400.html last seen March 15, 2006 and dated March 4, 2004 although problem is reverse. Both messages have one thing in common: "memory alloc (4 bytes) returned NULL."
Yes, the problem is known. Try recompiling rpm with the patch below to erase the packages. Note: the patch is not recommended in production use because it will change handling of upgrades and totally disables disk space checks. diff -u rpmdb.c rpmdb.c.bz183036 --- rpmdb.c 2005-12-13 07:20:29.000000000 -0500 +++ rpmdb.c.bz183036 2006-03-16 07:53:58.000000000 -0500 @@ -3360,13 +3360,7 @@ /*@observer@*/ /*@null@*/ const char * dn; } skipDirs[] = { - _skip("/usr/share/zoneinfo"), - _skip("/usr/share/locale"), - _skip("/usr/share/i18n"), - _skip("/usr/share/doc"), - _skip("/usr/lib/locale"), - _skip("/usr/src"), - _skip("/lib/modules"), + _skip("/"), { 0, NULL } };
I applied patch and it didn't work. You think I should erase my entire rpm installation and try again?
Nah. Tar up /var/lib/rpm cd /var/lib/rpm tar czvf /tmp/rpmdb-183036.tar.gz ./rpm give me a ptr (i.e. a URL_) yp that tar ball, and I'll try to remove the kernel-devel headers for you.
I put it on my server test page at http://kmberry.org" in the lower right hand corner. I don't know if it will work since Im using targeted and firestarter and I don't run a server since I don't have a reason yet. Might also try 66.92.238.250 because I am broke and I never renewed registration for my name.
Can't get there, neither http://kmberry.org or http://66.92.238.250 are functional.
I opened port 80 on firestarter and its working now because I just checked it with my other computer an 8600 powermac running ubuntu.
Downloading now ...
OK, your database w all kernel-devel headers removed is at http://wraptastic.org/pub/jbj/rpmdb-183036-FIX.tar.gz I'm not sure what your problem is/was. All I did was remove my kernel-devel, switch in your rpmdb, and then do rpm -q kernel-devel > /tmp/list for i in `cat /tmp/list`; do rpm -evv $i; done At no time did I see a memory footprint larger than 20 Mb, so your problem was *NOT* the fingerprint problem I thought it was. No idea why you are/were having difficulty. HTH
FWIW, I'm using rpm-4.4.6-0.5 (but I know of no changes since 4.4.2 that have this symptom).