Bug 11826

Summary:	install fails trying to access empty update/synthesis.hdlist.cz
Product:	Mageia	Reporter:	Pierre Fortin <pf>
Component:	Installer	Assignee:	Mageia Bug Squad <bugsquad>
Status:	RESOLVED OLD	QA Contact:
Severity:	normal
Priority:	Normal	CC:	thierry.vignaud
Version:	Cauldron
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Source RPM:		CVE:
Status comment:

Description Pierre Fortin 2013-11-30 01:33:50 CET

Description of problem:
see also bug 11820.  

Removed sda from laptop. Trying to install cauldron onto sdb (now appears as sda). Proceeds past format of sda1 (/), then fails trying to access update/synthesis.hdlist.cz which is only 20 bytes in size (May 18 04:00), and unzips to a 0 length file. 



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


How reproducible: always


Steps to Reproduce:
1. start install
2. fails with error:
   MEDIA SELECTION
   An error occurred:
   retrieval of [/tmp/image/media/core/updates/media_info/synthesis.hdlist.cz]  failed (md5sum mismatch)
   problem reading synthesis file of medium "Core Updates"

Why does the install check for updates before even installing the first package?

Moving past mga2 has not been possible on this platform. 


Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1 Pierre Fortin 2013-11-30 01:54:19 CET

Hmm... ignoring the errors, installer unchecks Updates one at a time and install eventually proceeds to package selection.  So this bug not so serious. Changing severity.

Severity: major => normal

Comment 2 Thierry Vignaud 2013-11-30 10:44:32 CET

b/c the installer calls the same code as urpmi.addmedia --distrib, which installs all media from the mirror.
You saw that error b/c you likelye hit your mirrror while he was syncing with its upper mirror and wasn't in a good state.
That was a transcient issue

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
CC: (none) => thierry.vignaud
Resolution: (none) => OLD

Comment 3 Pierre Fortin 2013-12-04 03:43:29 CET

Turns out this is due to the fact that the UPDATES synthesis files are all empty since there are no updates at all initially.  Ignore misleading errors, and media selections for updates re automatically de-selected; installation proceeds.

Rather than "bad md5sum" error message on the core/updates/synth... file; then another "missing synth..." error screen for remaining update synth files; why not recognize that these synthesis files are just that, empty/missing, and ignore them? Or, let core/uddates be 'missing' too...   Incorrect error messages about bad things like mismatched md5sum when file is simply empty are not helpful.  The synth files dialog because of empty files could use a comment like: "It's normal not to have updates immediately after a new release; de-selecting."