After a clean install of FC3, I ran up2date to get the system up to date. After 100+ updates I was up and running smoothly. So far, so good. Upon attempting to install drivers for my HP all-in-one I realized that I did not have a C complier installed. Oops! No problem, off I go to GNOME’s “Add/Remove Packages” page and check the box for “Development Applications”. Selecting the “Update” button, I thought I was all set. WRONG! I was met with an error box.

The following packages could not be found on your system. Installation cannot continue until they are installed.
libselinux
libxml2
pam

From a prompt, I ran the following
Yum install libselinux
Yum install libxml2
Yum install pam

All three attempts were met with the “nothing to do” return. Interesting…..

Running “rpm -qa | grep package” indicated that all three packages are indeed installed which explains why yum came back with the “nothing to do” result.

I rebuilt the RPM database twice, the second time after deleting the _db* files from the /var/lib/rpm folder. Still, I cannot install ANY packages from GNOMES interface. I STILL get the response that the same three packages are missing, even though I have confirmed that they are indeed there.

I have looked through the forums and found similar instances of this problem. However the advice given was alternate ways of installing the desired driver or package that started the whole thing (in my case, an alternate way of installing my HP drivers). I don’t want a way to avoid the problem, I want to solve it!

what's wrong with the compiler on the fedora disks?

Install the development section in the Add Software section in System Tools.
That way all the dependencies can be met in one go.

To answer your question, nothing os wrong with the compiler on the Fedora Discs. That is why that is the compiler I was attempting to install.

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I intended in my original post. When I said I was installing from GNOME's GUI, that is the very same method as you recommended.

Now so see my dilemma? I try to install the compiler from the "Add/Remove Packages" whick tells me that the packages are not present. Yet I have confirmed through two different methods that they ARE present.

GRRRRRRR!!!!!


Chris

I have this exact same problem. Any solutions???

I wish I had better news. No, I never found a solution. I ended up reinstalling the OS. After the second install (I installed the desired compiler as a part of the OS install) everything worked perfectly. Lotsa work to resolve the problem. But I never got any other suggestions.


Sorry,
Chris

The solution is simple, but not obvious.

Once updated with Fedora Core Updates, the graphical package utility is confused by the newer package versions and no longer is able to install some software from CD. Its error message is misleading. It requires specific package versions (those found on CD) and does not know about the updates.

This is a known issue and will only be fixed sometime in the future when the package utility will become more capable.

When it complains about
you need to install the corresponding -devel (!) packages from the network, i.e. from Fedora Core Updates:
Do that for every package it complains about. Afterwards, you can proceed with adding software from CD.

The Solution is simple?

I guess it's a matter of opinion. I have no idea what that yum command line does but I'll give it try.

My problem is I'm trying to get Fedora core 3 to communicate with a Windows workgroup network. I went to Applications, System settings, Add or remove packages, put a check in the Windows file server box, then clicked Update. I got the error, "package not found, unlocatable package samba-common, required by samba-client, 3.0.10, 1.fc3".

I have loved using Fedora 3 up until this point. Thanks for the pointers.

@ packzap

Since you've installed online updates already with either up2date or yum, you can as well install additional software with the same tool. E.g. running "up2date samba-client" would install samba-client and any packages it depends on. Equally, "yum install samba-client".

As explained before, the graphical package tool is missing a feature which results in unexpected behaviour. It's a bug. It works flawlessly when you have not installed any online updates already.