Description of problem:
Running "Add/Remove Software" from KDE start. Get failure as noted above. 

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Every Time

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start package from start window
2. Put in root password.
3. Failure
  
Actual results:

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
    vars['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 0xa0b358c>
distroverpkg: redhat-release

Expected results:


Additional info:

"ls -l" listing of /var/lib/rpm:

[root@bigbox n6nko]# ls -l /var/lib/rpm
total 60052
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm  10539008 Jan 21 10:12 Basenames
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     12288 Jan 21 07:29 Conflictname
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root        0 Jan 21 10:12 __db.000
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    24576 Jan 21 10:06 __db.001
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1318912 Jan 21 10:06 __db.002
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   450560 Jan 21 10:06 __db.003
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm   1961984 Jan 21 10:12 Dirnames
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm  10530816 Jan 21 10:12 Filemd5s
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     40960 Jan 21 10:12 Group
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     24576 Jan 21 10:12 Installtid
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     45056 Jan 21 10:12 Name
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm  40357888 Jan 21 10:12 Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm    335872 Jan 21 10:12 Providename
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm    114688 Jan 21 10:12 Provideversion
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     12288 Jan 21 07:36 Pubkeys
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm    421888 Jan 21 10:12 Requirename
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm    241664 Jan 21 10:12 Requireversion
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm    167936 Jan 21 10:12 Sha1header
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     90112 Jan 21 10:12 Sigmd5
-rw-r--r-- 1 rpm  rpm     12288 Jan 20 13:45 Triggername
[root@bigbox n6nko]# ls