Description of problem:
From time to time I see this yum traceback in our automated tests.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
rhn-client-tools-0.4.20.1-4.noarch
rhnlib-2.5.22.1-3.noarch
yum-metadata-parser-1.1.2-4.el5.x86_64
yum-3.2.22-40.el5.noarch
yum-rhn-plugin-0.5.4.1-2.noarch


How reproducible:
rarely (say 1 of 100 or 1 of 1000 attempts)


Steps to Reproduce:
1. # rhn_check


Actual results:
# cat /var/log/up2date
[Tue May 28 17:50:52 2013] up2date logging into up2date server
[Tue May 28 17:50:53 2013] up2date successfully retrieved authentication token from up2date server
[Tue May 28 17:52:26 2013] up2date 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/rhn_check", line 327, in __run_action
    (status, message, data) = CheckCli.__do_call(method, params, kwargs)
  File "/usr/sbin/rhn_check", line 319, in __do_call
    method = getMethod.getMethod(method, "/usr/share/rhn/", "actions")
  File "/usr/share/rhn/up2date_client/getMethod.py", line 78, in getMethod
    actions = __import__(modulename)
  File "/usr/share/rhn/actions/packages.py", line 260, in ?
    yum_base = YumAction()
  File "/usr/share/rhn/actions/packages.py", line 55, in __init__
    self.doTsSetup()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 86, in doTsSetup
    return self._getTs()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 101, in _getTs
    self._getTsInfo(remove_only)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 112, in _getTsInfo
    pkgSack = self.pkgSack
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 662, in <lambda>
    pkgSack = property(fget=lambda self: self._getSacks(),
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 503, in _getSacks
    if not self.repos.getPackageSack():
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/packageSack.py", line 290, in __len__
    ret += len(sack)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitesack.py", line 338, in __len__
    pkg_num += self._sql_MD_pkg_num('primary', repo)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitesack.py", line 317, in _sql_MD_pkg_num
    return self._sql_MD('primary', repo, sql).fetchone()[0]
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitesack.py", line 52, in newFunc
    raise Errors.RepoError, str(e)
yum.Errors.RepoError: no such table: packages


Expected results:
Should work without traceback


Additional info:
This is not a regression in 5.10, i have seen this in the past as well.