This failure mode appears to have been triggered by a failure to download the complete file for a glibc update. Bringing up a window to complain about it would be preferable. Actually, I didn't notice this in the terminal from which up2date was started for some time - because I've got used to the fact that it just sits there and fails to even redraw its windows while it's doing something else. That is also a severe defect in its functionality, IMO. imladris /home/dwmw2 # up2date Traceback (innermost last): File "/usr/share/rhn/up2date/gui.py", line 356, in doRetrieval res = up2date.hasBadSignature(self.selectedPkgList[index]) File "/usr/share/rhn/up2date/up2date.py", line 806, in hasBadSignature hdr = rpm.headerFromPackage(fd)[0] rpm.error: error reading package
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 18994 ***
This doesn't look like a duplicate of 18994. This appears to be caused by an aborted download of the package and a subsequent failure to read the RPM headers of the new package, rather than a failure to grok the system's RPM database. The other part: "just dies horribly without bringing up a dialog box to complain and you don't notice for hours because you've come to _expect_ it not to redraw itself for ages anyway" is the same though.