[SOLVED] --auto-orphans broke my wireless networking system

[nighteyes]

I recently installed Mageia 4 onto my system [i686 architecture, Pentium M processor, K desktop environment] from a live DVD, and all was going well until I performed a system update a few days ago, and a message was displayed telling me that there were about 20 orphans which could be removed by using urpme --auto-orphans. Upon rebooting I discovered not only that the device drivers I needed were missing, but even after getting them back by installing the kernel-firmware-nonfree package, I'm still not able to get online except by ethernet. I've tried reinstalling the networkmanager and networkmanager-applet packages, but no luck. The following is the output from the lspcidrake -v, ifconfig -a, journalctl -b -u network --no-pager -a, and systemctl status network.service commands:

lspcidrake -v:

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root>5*27!# lspcidrake -v
unknown         : Intel Corporation|PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:1043 subv:8086 subd:2565) (rev: 04)
firewire_ohci   : Texas Instruments|PCI4510 IEEE-1394 Controller [SERIAL_FIREWIRE] (vendor:104c device:8029 subv:1028 subd:0191)
yenta_socket    : Texas Instruments|PCI4510 PC card Cardbus Controller [BRIDGE_CARDBUS] (vendor:104c device:ac44 subv:d000 subd:0000) (rev: 02)
b44             : Broadcom Corporation|BCM4401 100Base-T [NETWORK_ETHERNET] (vendor:14e4 device:4401 subv:1028 subd:8127) (rev: 01)
Card:ATI Radeon HD 4870 and earlier: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]|RV350/M10 [Mobility Radeon 9600 PRO Turbo] [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:1002 device:4e50 subv:1028 subd:2001)
snd_intel8x0m   : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller [COMMUNICATION_MODEM] (vendor:8086 device:24c6 subv:14f1 subd:5422) (rev: 01)
snd_intel8x0    : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO] (vendor:8086 device:24c5 subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
ata_piix        : Intel Corporation|82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller [STORAGE_IDE] (vendor:8086 device:24ca subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
lpc_ich         : Intel Corporation|82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:24cc) (rev: 01)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:2448) (rev: 81)
ehci_pci        : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:24cd subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
uhci_hcd        : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:24c7 subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
uhci_hcd        : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:24c4 subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
uhci_hcd        : Intel Corporation|82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:24c2 subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 01)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|82855PM Processor to AGP Controller [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:3341) (rev: 03)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|82855PM Processor to I/O Controller [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:3340 subv:1028 subd:0191) (rev: 03)
hub             : Linux 3.14.18-desktop586-3.mga4 ehci_hcd|EHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0002)
hub             : Apple, Inc.|Keyboard Hub [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:05ac device:1006)
usbhid          : Apple, Inc|Apple Keyboard [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Keyboard] (vendor:05ac device:0220)
usbhid          : Microsoft|Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse with Tilt Wheel [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Mouse] (vendor:045e device:00d2)
ar5523          : Atheros Communications Inc|WPN111 (vendor:1385 device:5f00)
hub             : Linux 3.14.18-desktop586-3.mga4 uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0001)
hub             : Linux 3.14.18-desktop586-3.mga4 uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0001)
hub             : Linux 3.14.18-desktop586-3.mga4 uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0001)
Resolution:1280x800: Dell .*|Inspiron 8600
Module:i8k      : Dell .*|Inspiron.*
Pkg:i8kutils    : Dell .*|Inspiron.*
hid_generic     : Microsoft Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse with Tilt Wheel
hid_apple       : Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
hid_apple       : Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

ifconfig -a:

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root>5*27!# ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:43:6D:1E:D7 
          inet addr:192.168.1.71  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:24801 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:13120 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:17866135 (17.0 MiB)  TX bytes:1887827 (1.8 MiB)
          Interrupt:11

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:1824 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1824 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:102144 (99.7 KiB)  TX bytes:102144 (99.7 KiB)

wlp0s29f7u3 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1F:33:E2:EF:A1 
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

journal -b -u network --no-pager -a:

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-- Logs begin at Tue 2014-10-14 20:56:36 PDT, end at Tue 2014-10-21 19:09:03 PDT. --

systemctl status network.service:

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root>5*27!# systemctl status network.service
network.service - LSB: Bring up/down networking
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/rc.d/init.d/network)
   Active: inactive (dead)

So not only do I want to know how to sort out my wireless networking, but how to keep this fiasco from happening again. I'm thinking my mistake might have been having the listed orphans removed before rebooting. Any help given would be much appreciated. Cheers.

[filip]

Hi nighteyes for your detailed report and welcome here.

... how to keep this fiasco from happening again.

That --auto-orphans mcc dialog is not friendly to Mageia newcomers in my eyes. I think you can read about it in the wiki page to prevent such situations in the future.

For solving your current situation is best to add back removed packages. You can search this forum for instructions.

[nighteyes]

For solving your current situation is best to add back removed packages. You can search this forum for instructions.

I checked the forums and did a pretty exhaustive search of various log files on my system, but couldn't find names of the packages I'd removed w\ the --auto-orphans switch. So I bit the bullet and re-installed the entire system. All's going well again, and I know that the --auto-orphans switch is NOT to be trusted. I tried running the urpmq --auto-orphans command and piping the output into urpme --test, and the message displayed was `All packages can be removed'. Pshaw! So now I just run urpmq --auto-orphans and pipe that output into urpmi to de-orphanze them.

I also had a few issues w\ multimedia plugins but getting them was just a matter of enabling the correct repositories.

[filip]

Great. I hope you'll learn and embrace Mageia.

[doktor5000]

All's going well again, and I know that the --auto-orphans switch is NOT to be trusted. I tried running the urpmq --auto-orphans command and piping the output into urpme --test, and the message displayed was `All packages can be removed'. Pshaw! So now I just run urpmq --auto-orphans and pipe that output into urpmi to de-orphanze them.

auto-orphans output is not to be "trusted" or if urpme --test says "all packages can be uninstalled" doesn't mean that there's not some important package you want to keep.
That's simply misunderstanding or false assumption.

Please check our software management MAQeia for more information on software and package management.

Two relevant excerpts:

A more fine-grained history (for all packages since Mageia installation) including which program triggered installation/removal can be seen with the following command run as root (or grant your user journalctl permissions, just add your user to the systemd-journal group)

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journalctl -a --no-pager | grep -F "[RPM]"

same as above, but limited to all packages installation/removal since the last two boots:

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journalctl -a -b-2 --no-pager | grep -F "[RPM]"

To simply mark all orphaned packages as manually installed, one can use e.g.

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urpmi $(urpmq --auto-orphans)

WARNING: This is only listed here for completeness' sake, see https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Removing_packages for more details regarding orphans, context information and also a tool for orphan management

[nighteyes]

I'll keep all that in mind. But in the interest in keeping a clean system, it would be nice to be able to identify the packages that really are orphans. It's a shame that --auto-orphans isn't up to the job. Maybe it will be in some future Mageia release, unless it was intended as a hazing ritual for new Mageia users Cheers.

[doktor5000]

If you understand how it works, it can be easily used for that. E.g. I'll always install buildrequires for packaging.
With auto-orphans I can easily remove all of those - but I need to be aware that I should not play with rpm -e --nodeps
and remove some packages and rely on auto-orphans to still work "magically".

Please mark the thread accordingly by editing the topic of the first post and prefix it by [DONE], thanks