amsn installation problem

[vegterb]

I recently installed Mandriva 2006, as far as my knowledge of linux goes I knew my way arround.

But a problem occoured; I tried installing aMSN with the standard rpmdrake software installation program. All went well, untill my internet connection failed (wireless ). But after a few seconds I regained my connection and the download/installation of aMSN continued. After a few second a pop-up: 'installation succesfull'.

So, happy as I was I tried to start aMSN... and... nothing! It wouldn't start! So I checked /usr/share/ and there I saw the /amsn folder, so everything seems o.k. but it seemed implossible to start amsn. I went back to rpmdrake, to uninstall and re-install amsn. Uninstalling was impossible, there was no package amsn. Even using the Konsole: 'rpm -e amsn' gave: 'such a package does not excists'. Back to rpmdrake and maybe re-install? So, I started rpmdrake, and it gave: amsn, status: 'not installed'. So I tried re-installing, no effect.

Does anyone know how I could solve this problem? Removing the current amsn and re-installing? The files are locked so deleting them is no option.

[Kojak]

Try reinstalling with the --force option.

rpm -i --force <packagename>

[vegterb]

Mandriva doesn't seem to know that amsn is installed, so I'm unable to uninstall this using the rpm options, so rpm -i don't work. I also tried identifying the package by using rpm -q but mandriva can't find a package with this name, but it IS installed (as I can see in /usr/share/amsn)

[fingal]

Have you tried rebuilding the rpm database? The command is:

rpm --rebuilddb

I thought it might help rpm identify your package.

[vegterb]

Have you tried rebuilding the rpm database? The command is:

rpm --rebuilddb

I thought it might help rpm identify your package.

Sound pretty logical, rebuilding; so it identifices all the excisting packages again, but it gives me an error:

error: can't create transaction lock on /var/lib/rpm/__db.000

I tried a lot of different rpm options, but thatś just trying with knowing what I'm actually doing

Edit:
I did something stupid, I was nog logged in as a su sorry, it's working as we speak!

Second Edit:
To bad, no effect...
Package still not found and/or recognised, re-installing; (still) no effect.

[fingal]

Hmmm okay then. How are you trying to start aMSN? Are you doing this from a command line? Has it added itself to your gui menu?

[vegterb]

Hmmm okay then. How are you trying to start aMSN? Are you doing this from a command line? Has it added itself to your gui menu?

I had version 0.94 installed, but wanted to install 0.95. So I (succesfully) uninstalled the older version. But it remained in the GUI Menu, without an icon by the way. So I started the installation of 0.95, well you know what happend. But the option in GUI Menu was still available but after clicking (nothing happend) on it once it disappeared, propably beceause it couldn't find the package.

After that I tried starting it from /usr/share/amsn/ but the same result; nothing.

I also tried isuing a command, via the GUI. Which (if the command is not right) gives an error, but when typing 'amsn' it disapears and nothing happens.

I just tried starting it through the Konsole, with the following effect:

[vegterb@localhost ~]$ amsn

Error in startup script: can't find package framec
    while executing
"package require framec"
    (file "chatwindow.tcl" line 7)
    invoked from within
"source chatwindow.tcl  "
    (procedure "reload_files" line 19)
    invoked from within
"reload_files"
    (file "/usr/bin/amsn" line 229)

This something new!
But I've got no clue what this is, it's a program error, but how to solve this?

[fingal]

Actually when there's a problem starting a package from a command line (as you've done) is a very good idea. I think there might be a clue in there somewhere.

If I'm not mistaken, 'tcl' and 'tk' are programming languages used to produce guis. The error message refers to chatwindow.tcl ... possibly as part of tcl?

So perhaps aMSN depends on tcl and / or tk ? If so then this is odd because when you installed your rpm it should have let you know this. From a quick Google search it looks as if framec is part of your graphical 'widgets' package.

Search for tcl and tk and install those. You may need to delete your existing aMSM binaries and then reinstall.

[vegterb]

Actually when there's a problem starting a package from a command line (as you've done) is a very good idea. I think there might be a clue in there somewhere.

If I'm not mistaken, 'tcl' and 'tk' are programming languages used to produce guis. The error message refers to chatwindow.tcl ... possibly as part of tcl?

So perhaps aMSN depends on tcl and / or tk ? If so then this is odd because when you installed your rpm it should have let you know this. From a quick Google search it looks as if framec is part of your graphical 'widgets' package.

Search for tcl and tk and install those. You may need to delete your existing aMSM binaries and then reinstall.

I found out these packages were already installed, I tried installing newer versions but there are to many other packages which need the TCL and TK packages, the installation failed. So I uninstalled the newer version and re-installed the standard versions, which were installed before. The newer versions are only 0.0.02 point newer than the version I'm using now (tk8.4.11 vs tk8.4.13).

The TCL package was much newer, (tcl8.4.11 vs tcl8.5.0) but when I install the 8.5 and I try starting a msn with Konsole it can't find a usable init.tcl in any folder. And after installing the new TK package, it can't find that new package. So everything is back to what is was now.

You said: "You may need to delete your existing aMSM binaries and then reinstall." How do I do that? Doesn't linux have something like remote control?

This is starting to get complicated...

[fingal]

You said: "You may need to delete your existing aMSM binaries and then reinstall." How do I do that? Doesn't linux have something like remote control?

This is starting to get complicated...

Yes true ... too complicated! I installed aMSN myself several months ago with no issues at all. Strange isn't it? I just went to their website and got it from there, downloaded the rpm to my desktop, right clicked it and selected 'Software installer' from the menu. Then - as root - I installed it.

Uninstalling would be okay using Mandriva's built in package management system in the Mandriva Control centre. You get the option to 'Install New Software' or 'Uninstall New Software'. The issue you're having with the rpm database not seeing aMSN doesn't help though.

Also, aMSN isn't part of Mandriva's standard set of rpms. It seems that not even the Penguin Liberation Front (PLF) offer it, so you can't use urpmi to resolve dependencies. At least, not without understanding exactly what those are. If you had a complete list of all the dependencies for that package, you could install them one by one until (I hope) things would be working.

You might like to think about using Kopette or Gaim instead? Uninstalling binaries by hand is likely to be messy. You would need to locate them and do:

su
password
rm /bin/local/aMSN

or something very similar. Sorry this isn't working out too well.

EDIT: My approach to finding packages is usually to try:
su
<password>
find / -name *msn* -print

This should search through your entire directory tree for any files named msn, and print them to the screen. As long as you're sure these are aMSN files you can delete them.