RPM Installation Failures

rpms

Last modified: June 12, 2024

Overview

This document provides examples of common RPM installation failures. You can use these examples to help identify and resolve issues that you may encounter when you install RPMs.

Important:

This document only applies to installation failures for operating system-related RPMs on Red Hat-based servers. This document does not include information for RPMs that The rpm.versions System controls or for packages on servers running the Ubuntu® operating system.
To install operating system packages, use WHM’s Install Distro Packages interface (WHM » Home »Software »Install Distro Packages).
To change how your server processes updates for these packages, use the Operating System Package Updates section of WHM’s Update Preferences interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Update Preferences).
To scan your installed cPanel-managed packages for problems, use the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/check_cpanel_pkgs script. You can also use this script to reinstall cPanel & WHM packages that are out-of-date or altered.

Note:

If you continue to experience problems with the RPM installation process after you review this document, open a support ticket.

The no package available error

If the /etc/yum.conf file excludes a required package from updates, or a package does not exist on your server, the installation process fails.

The no package available error Error

In this example, the absence of the wget package causes the installation to fail:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13


[20130131.123334]   Setting up Install Process
[20130131.123334]   No package wget available.
[20130131.123335]   Nothing to do
[20130131.123339] E Sysup: Needed system RPMs were not installed: wget
[20130131.123339] ***** FATAL: Cannot proceed. Needed system RPMs were not installed.
[20130131.123339]   The Administrator will be notified to review this output when this script completes
[20130131.123339] E Detected events which require user notification during updatenow. Will send iContact the log
=> Log closed Thu Jan 31 12:33:39 2013
[20130131.123339]
 E Running `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updatenow --upcp
--log=/var/cpanel/updatelogs/update.1359657200.log` failed, exited with
code 4608
=> Log closed Thu Jan 31 12:33:39 2013

Troubleshoot The no package available error

To troubleshoot this issue, perform the following steps:

Open the /etc/yum.conf file with a text editor and remove the required package from the exclude line. For example:

exclude=bind-chroot courier* dovecot* exim* filesystem httpd* mod_ssl* mysql* perl* php* proftpd* pure-ftpd* ruby* spamassassin*

Save your changes and run the RPM installation process again.

The package is obsoleted error

This error generally occurs due to conflicts that exist between the RPMs and a third-party repository. An RPM installation may fail if the system classifies a package as obsolete.

The package is obsoleted error Error

In this example, the system classifies the curl-devel package as obsolete:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19


[20130208.081257]   Setting up Install Process
[20130208.081257]
 Package curl-devel is obsoleted by libcurl-devel, trying to install
libcurl-devel-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2.x86_64 instead
[20130208.081257]   Package libcurl-devel-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2.x86_64 already installed and latest version
[20130208.081257]
 Package curl-devel is obsoleted by libcurl-devel, trying to install
libcurl-devel-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2.x86_64 instead
[20130208.081257]   Package libcurl-devel-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2.x86_64 already installed and latest version
[20130208.081257]   Nothing to do
[20130208.081258] E Sysup: Needed system RPMs were not installed: curl-devel
[20130208.081258] ***** FATAL: Cannot proceed. Needed system RPMs were not installed.
[20130208.081258]   The Administrator will be notified to review this output when this script completes
[20130208.081258] E Detected events which require user notification during updatenow. Will send iContact the log
=> Log closed Fri Feb  8 08:12:58 2013
[20130208.081258]
 E Running `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updatenow --upcp
--log=/var/cpanel/updatelogs/update.1360329171.log` failed, exited with
code 18 (signal = 0)

Troubleshoot The package is obsoleted error

To troubleshoot this error, perform the following steps:

Run the rpm -qa|grep curl command to determine which third-party curl RPMs exist on your system. The output will resemble the following example:

1
2
3
4
5


compat-libcurl3-7.15.5-2.el5.remi
curl-7.15.5-15.el5
curl-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2
libcurl-devel-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2
libcurl-7.21.7-5.el5.remi.2

Run the ls /etc/yum.repos.d command to confirm whether your server uses a third-party repository. The output will resemble the following example:

1
2
3


./ CentOS-Debuginfo.repo epel.repo remi.repo.save
../ CentOS-Media.repo epel-testing.repo
CentOS-Base.repo CentOS-Vault.repo remi.repo

Disable the third-party repository that caused the error. To do this, run the following command:
```
yum-config-manager --disable repositoryname
```
Note:

In this example, repositoryname represents the third-party repository to disable.
Run the RPM installation process again.

RPM conflicts

RPMs in the system’s update log that do not match similar RPMs in the repository are commonly known as “rogue RPMs,” and cause the installation process to fail.

RPM conflicts Error

In this example, the MySQL RPM causes the installation process to fail:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9


[20130128.230346] Testing RPM transaction
[20130128.230348] error: Failed dependencies:
[20130128.230348] MySQL conflicts with *mysql-5.0.77-4.el5_4.2.i386*
[20130128.230348] W Exit Code: 254
[20130128.230348] ***** FATAL: Test install failed: error: Failed dependencies:
[20130128.230348] MySQL conflicts with mysql-5.0.77-4.el5_4.2.i386
[20130128.230348] The Administrator will be notified to review this output when this script completes
[20130128.230348] E Error testing if the RPMs will install: Died at /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updatenow.static line 12517.
[20130128.230348] E Detected events which require user notification during updatenow. Will send iContact the log

Troubleshoot RPM conflicts

To troubleshoot this error, perform the following steps

Run the rpm -qa|grep -i ^mysql command to locate the version of the MySQL RPM in the update log. The output will resemble the following example:
```
mysql-5.0.77-4.el5_4.2
```
Run the previous command on another server and compare the output to the output of the first server. For example:
```
MySQL-server-5.5.28-2.cp.1148
```
Note:

The difference in RPM versions indicates that the mysql-5.0.77-4.el5_4.2 RPM is a rogue RPM, which is why it conflicts with the MySQL installation.
Remove the “rogue” RPM file. For example:
```
rpm -e --nodeps mysql-5.0.77-4.el5_4.2
```
Run the RPM installation process again.

RPM package file conflicts

An RPM installation can fail if there are package file conflicts. This can occur when a previous RPM file isn’t removed from the system. You must remove any conflicting files before you can successfully install an RPM.

RPM package file conflicts Error

In this example, the clamav-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64 file conflicts with the RPM package file:

1
2
3
4
5
6


[2019-05-30 16:02:13 +0500]   All files Staged
[2019-05-30 16:02:13 +0500]   Testing if the newly downloaded RPMS can be installed without conflict
[2019-05-30 16:02:13 +0500]   Testing RPM transaction
[2019-05-30 16:02:14 +0500]     file /etc/rc.d/init.d/clamd from install of cpanel-clamav-0.101.2-1.cp1180.x86_64 conflicts with file from package clamd-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64
[2019-05-30 16:02:14 +0500] W Exit Code: 73
[2019-05-30 16:02:14 +0500] ***** FATAL: Test install failed:   file /etc/rc.d/init.d/clamd from install of cpanel-clamav-0.101.2-1.cp1180.x86_64 conflicts with file from package clamd-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64

Troubleshoot RPM package file conflicts

To troubleshoot this error, perform the following steps:

Run the rpm -qa | grep -i clamav command to locate the version of the ClamAV RPM in the update log. The output will resemble the following example:

1
2
3


cpanel-perl-528-File-Scan-ClamAV-1.95-1.cp1178.noarch
cpanel-clamav-virusdefs-0.100.2-1.cp1170.x86_64
cpanel-clamav-0.100.2-1.cp1170.x86_64

Run the rpm -qa | grep -i clamav command on another server. Compare the output to the output of the first server. For example:

1
2
3
4
5


clamav-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64
cpanel-clamav-virusdefs-0.100.2-1.cp1170.x86_64
cpanel-perl-528-File-Scan-ClamAV-1.95-1.cp1178.noarch
clamav-db-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64
cpanel-clamav-0.100.2-1.cp1170.x86_64

Remove the conflicting RPM file. For example:

rpm -e --nodeps clamav-0.100.3-1.el6.x86_64

Run the RPM installation process again.

Failure to unpack a new package

An RPM installation fails if the update process cannot unpack the new package to the correct location. Binaries that you cannot modify (immutable binaries) cause this error.

Failure to unpack a new package Error

In this example, both the tar and unzip packages cause the installation process to fail:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31


[20130210.141900]   Running Transaction
[20130210.141903]
[20130210.141903]   Installing     : gzip                                                     1/3
[20130210.141903]
[20130210.141903]
 Installing     :
unzip                                                    2/3Error
unpacking rpm package unzip-5.52-3.el5.i386
[20130210.141903]
[20130210.141903]   error: unpacking of archive failed on file /usr/bin/unzip: cpio: rename
[20130210.141903]
[20130210.141903]
 Installing     :
tar                                                      3/3Error
unpacking rpm package 2:tar-1.15.1-32.el5_8.i386
[20130210.141903]
[20130210.141903]   error: unpacking of archive failed on file /bin/tar: cpio: rename
[20130210.141904]
[20130210.141904]   Installed:
[20130210.141904]     gzip.i386 0:1.3.5-13.el5.centos
[20130210.141904]
[20130210.141904]   Failed:
[20130210.141904]     tar.i386 2:1.15.1-32.el5_8               unzip.i386 0:5.52-3.el5
[20130210.141904]
[20130210.141904]   Complete!
[20130210.141910]
 E Sysup: Needed system RPMs were not installed: tar, unzip, wget
[20130210.141910] ***** FATAL: Cannot proceed. Needed system RPMs were
not installed.
[20130210.141910]   The Administrator will be notified to review this output when this script completes
[20130210.141910] E Detected events which require user notification during updatenow. Will send iContact the log

Troubleshoot Failure to unpack a new package

To troubleshoot this error, perform the following steps:

Run the lsattr /usr/bin/unzip command to determine whether immutable binaries caused this error. The following example indicates that the system contains immutable binaries:
1 2

----i-------- /usr/bin/unzip ----i-------- /bin/tar
Remove the immutable flags. To do this, run the following commands:
1 2

chattr -i /usr/bin/unzip chattr -i /bin/tar
Run the RPM installation process again.

The Your RPM database appears unstable error

An RPM installation fails if the destination directory is immutable or full.

The Your RPM database appears unstable error Error

In this example, any attempt to install an RPM causes the installation process to fail.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13


[root@read-only ~]# /scripts/upcp --force
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500]   Checking that the RPM DB is
OK...
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500]   glibc-2.17-157.el7_3.4.x86_64
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500]   OK: RPM DB is responding to
queries
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] Testing if rpm_is_working RPM is installed
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] package rpm_is_working is not installed
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] Testing if it's possible to install a simple RPM
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] error: can't create transaction lock on /var/lib/rpm/.rpm.lock (Read-only file system)
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] The RPM did not appear to install.
[2017-07-21 12:20:48 -0500] W Your RPM database appears unstable. It is not possible at the moment to install any RPMs.
Your RPM database appears unstable. It is not possible at the moment to install any RPMs. at /scripts/upcp line 866.

Troubleshoot The Your RPM database appears unstable error

To troubleshoot this error, perform either of the following actions:

Rebuild the RPM database in WHM’s Rebuild RPM Database interface (WHM » Home » Software » Rebuild RPM Database).
Run the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues command.