Description of problem:
After being prompted to install some security updates (and other non-security
updates as well I'm guessing) by the auto updater in the top right hand corner I
am receiving an exception everytime I open the Add/Remove Software tool from the
Applications menu in Fedora Core 6. A screen appears giving me the option to
Debug, Save to File or Quit, the Save to File option results in the following
output:


Component: Software Manager
Summary: TBc3704fb6 config.py:656:_getsysver:TypeError: rpmdb open failed

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 445, in ?
    main()
  File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 438, in main
    pm = PackageManager(options.config)
  File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 60, in __init__
    GraphicalYumBase.__init__(self, False, config)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/pirut/__init__.py", line 124, in __init__
    plugin_types=(yum.plugins.TYPE_CORE,))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 125, in
doConfigSetup
    self.conf = config.readMainConfig(startupconf)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/config.py", line 597, in readMainConfig
    yumvars['releasever'] = _getsysver(startupconf.installroot,
startupconf.distroverpkg)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/config.py", line 656, in _getsysver
    idx = ts.dbMatch('provides', distroverpkg)
TypeError: rpmdb open failed

Local variables in innermost frame:
installroot: /
ts: <rpmUtils.transaction.TransactionWrapper instance at 0x98b064c>
distroverpkg: redhat-release


Also attempted to run yum from the console and received the following:


[root@localhost andrew]# yum proftpd
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
rpmdb: Locker is not valid
rpmdb: Unknown locker ID: 396
error: db4 error(22) from db->close: Invalid argument
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - Invalid argument (22)
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/yum", line 29, in ?
    yummain.main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 85, in main
    base.getOptionsConfig(args)
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 199, in getOptionsConfig
    errorlevel=opts.errorlevel)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 125, in
doConfigSetup
    self.conf = config.readMainConfig(startupconf)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/config.py", line 597, in readMainConfig
    yumvars['releasever'] = _getsysver(startupconf.installroot,
startupconf.distroverpkg)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/config.py", line 656, in _getsysver
    idx = ts.dbMatch('provides', distroverpkg)
TypeError: rpmdb open failed


When I try yum --help or yum -h from the console I'm getting similar errors.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Don't know how to find this out, please get in touch with steps if this would
help to fix the problem.

How reproducible:
This occurs every time I attempt to open the Add/Remove Software tool.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Get all the most recent updates for Fedora Core 6 as of (approx) 21:00 (GMT)
on the 5th of December 2006
2.After update log in (not as root - haven't tested this)
3.Open the Add/Remove Software tool from the Application menu.
  
Actual results:
See description.

Expected results:
The Add/Remove Software Tool would start.

Additional info:
Please contact me if more information is required.