Important alerts ... email distribution

[ludolph]

If people don't read the Important Alert at the top of every forum page in bright red letters what makes you think that they'll read their email messages?

I do not read MX Forum every day ... but I read all the emails I get!!!

I'm just the opposite. I visit the forum every day and only check my email when I happen to remember, usually once or twice a week,

One thing I've learned to do is to keep a USB stick set aside that has a recent personal snapshot of my MX system burned to it, so if something happens it's just a minor annoyance causing me to spend a few minutes reinstalling rather than being a major disaster causing me hours of work, reinstalling from scratch then reconfiguring everything the same way I had it.

OK, but I still thinking, that the email alert could be very useful. I have no idea how many users were affected by this problem, but I am sure that email alert to all MX forum members could prevents serious troubles of many people.

[JayM]

i would run kmathern's. May as well fix everything at once rather than piecemeal.

The /usr/share/mx-packageinstaller-pkglist/rebuild_dkms_packages.sh script actually does everything kmathern's fix does, and also writes its activity to a log file.
Here's what it looks like:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

#force rebuild of dkms packages (virtualbox, nvidia, fglrx, broadcom, ndiswrapper)
#part of mx-packageinstaller


[[ $(dpkg-query --show $1 2>/dev/null && echo $?) ]] || exit 0


for i in $(dpkg-query -l |grep "\-dkms" |awk '{print $2'}); do
 dpkg-reconfigure $i |tee -a /var/log/rebuild-dkms.log
done

exit 0

So to clarify, just for the sake of Linux newbies, how would ludolph or others use this script on a system that boots to a blinking cursor? I would guess the procedure would be something like
1. Boot to your MX installation medium: DVD or USB stick
2. Mount the root file system on the hard drive by clicking on it in Thunar
3. Open a root Thunar and go to /root on that hard disk partition
4. Right-click there and Create Document of type Empty File and name it something like fixmx.sh
5. Open it in Featherpad and paste the conents of the script there and save it
6. Right-click on it, choose Properties, and check the box to make it executable
7. Boot to the installed system and at the blank screen press alt F2, log on as root, then type

Code: Select all

./fixmx.sh

(enter) then

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

(enter) to reboot.
Is that about right?

[BitJam]

OK, but I still thinking, that the email alert could be very useful. I have no idea how many users were affected by this problem, but I am sure that email alert to all MX forum members could prevents serious troubles of many people.

I agree that some form of push would be good for dire emergencies. I don't know if email is the best way. For example, text messages might be more useful for some people. I'm hoping this was a rare fluke that does not get repeated for many years, if ever.

This was a serious problem for people running live but installed systems were not seriously damaged. I believe that blank screen with the blinking cursor makes many people feel like their system is totally broken. It also adds another layer of difficulty in providing help since technically "system does not boot" and "X does not start" are very different problems.

I'm hoping that if we had a screen like this:

tty7.png

instead of the blank screen then it would be a little less frightening. It would also make it much easier for people to report to us what is going on and what failed so it is easier for us to help them.

[Pierre]

So to clarify, just for the sake of Linux newbies, how would ludolph or others use this script on a system that boots to a blinking cursor? I would guess the procedure would be something like
1. Mount the root file system on the hard drive by clicking on it in Thunar
~ snip

if you've got an blinking cursor you won't be able to Click on it in Thunar .. ..
- - you would probably have to use Ctrl-F1 to get into an Terminal .. maybe.

[JmaCWQ]

I think if a forum member has "Administrators can email me information:" set to "Yes" in their board preferences, then by all means send them an email.
This issue is a good example of when Admins could email users with relevant information.
The more ways this info gets out there then hopefully the greater number of people can be saved from having this problem.

[ludolph]

I think if a forum member has "Administrators can email me information:" set to "Yes" in their board preferences, then by all means send them an email.
This issue is a good example of when Admins could email users with relevant information.
The more ways this info gets out there then hopefully the greater number of people can be saved from having this problem.

Yes, this is one of possible way how to inform community about serious problems ... Important alerts.

[JayM]

So to clarify, just for the sake of Linux newbies, how would ludolph or others use this script on a system that boots to a blinking cursor? I would guess the procedure would be something like
1. Mount the root file system on the hard drive by clicking on it in Thunar
~ snip

if you've got an blinking cursor you won't be able to Click on it in Thunar .. ..
- - you would probably have to use Ctrl-F1 to get into an Terminal .. maybe.

I'm assuming that people have booted with their USB stick, or else they're not going to be able to access the forum to get the script anyway. I'll edit my post to add that as step 1 and renumber the others.

[asqwerth]

Good points to consider. I'm sure the Dev Team will be discussing what sort of steps to take, if this ever (hopefully not!) happens again.

[asqwerth]

if you've got an blinking cursor you won't be able to Click on it in Thunar .. ..
- - you would probably have to use Ctrl-F1 to get into an Terminal .. maybe.

From BitJam here: viewtopic.php?p=510405#p510405

... for those of you who are at the blank screen with a blinking cursor, you can try pressing <Alt><F2> to get to the login console. If that works then it should save you from having to reboot or edit the bootloader entry.

At the text mode login console, log in as root and run the script?

If Alt-F2 doesn't work for you, reboot. Then at the grub menu for MX:

press 'e' in the bootloader and edit the line that starts with "linux" by added a "3" at the end. the press F10 to boot. This should get you to a console where you can can log in. Then run the command....

[AK-47]

I'm hoping that if we had a screen like this:tty7.png
instead of the blank screen then it would be a little less frightening. It would also make it much easier for people to report to us what is going on and what failed so it is easier for us to help them.

if this tsplash ever makes it into MX Linux I'm switching to it in a flash.

So to clarify, just for the sake of Linux newbies, how would ludolph or others use this script on a system that boots to a blinking cursor? I would guess the procedure would be something like
1. Boot to your MX installation medium: DVD or USB stick
2. Mount the root file system on the hard drive by clicking on it in Thunar
3. Open a root Thunar and go to /root on that hard disk partition
4. Right-click there and Create Document of type Empty File and name it something like fixmx.sh
5. Open it in Featherpad and paste the conents of the script there and save it
6. Right-click on it, choose Properties, and check the box to make it executable
7. Boot to the installed system and at the blank screen press alt F2, log on as root, then type

Code: Select all

./fixmx.sh

(enter) then

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

(enter) to reboot.
Is that about right?

It's already there in the system, so the user shouldn't have to do anything to create the script. I just pasted the contents of the script to show that it does something similar to kmathern's fix.
I am guessing at that point they have access to a shell and the blinking cursor is the prompt?

If so, all you need to do is type something like this (root shell of course):

Code: Select all

/usr/share/mx-packageinstaller-pkglist/rebuild_dkms_packages.sh
reboot