Yum error with "runuser" not found

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 20:06:10 +0100, Timothy Murphy
<tim at birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie> wrote:
> When she is good,  she is very, very good
> But when she is bad, she is awful.
> 
> That is what I feel about yum.
> If it works it is great.
> But if it doesn't work there usually seems to be nothing you can do about it,
> eg the current message
> 
> =======================================
> Restarting Dependency Process with new changes
> Error: missing dep: /bin/runuser for pkg initscripts
> =======================================
> 
> What is one meant to do when you get this error message?

It means there is a REAL packaging bug in the the initscript package
you tried to update.
This specific example is NOT a yum problem.. it is a packaging problem
in that version of the initscripts package.... /bin/runuser doesnt
exist  /sbin/runuser exists... but initscript package is explictly
demanding that the rpm database have the /bin/runuser file in place as
a requirement for package installation.


> Is there any way to ask yum just to forget about initscripts,
> and install whatever it can install?

Yes you rerun yum using --exclude and try again.

> Could the error messages put out by yum not be a little more helpful,
> and suggest what action the user might take?

Suggesting an action...suggests there is a correct course of action.
There isn't, there isn't one correct course of action. When a REAL
packaging dependancy problems shows up, a local decision has to be
made by the administrator as to what to do about it.
Is excluding that package the right thing to do and retrying the rest
of the updates... not necessarily, it depends.

-jef