Error attemtping to reinstall Debian 10 templateVM

[dono...@unseen.is]

All,

This is interesting. My original installation of Qubes had Debian 9. I upgraded it to Debian 10 following the Qubes documentation. No issues at all. In learning and working with Qubes I found I needed more drive space, so I deleted Debian. Having installed secondary storage for AppVMs and moving some over to it, I can reinstall a Debian 10 templateVM. Except now it won't.

Specifically, I issue the "$ sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-10" and I get red lettering and "error could not delete old database at /var/lib/qubes/dom0-updates/home/user/.rpmold.xxxx" where xxxx changes if I repeat the command and that error appears. Other times I get red lettering without that specific error and (via sys-whonix) it downloads the info it needs and then I get "No Match for argument qubes-template-debian-10 nothing to download".





If I try "$ sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-9" - same thing "No Match for argument qubes-template-debian-9 nothing to download".





My backups don't have any version of a Debian templateVM (grrr). A fresh install is plan B, but some insight would be educational.





Thanks!





DG


[Chris Laprise]

On 2/25/20 4:12 PM, dono...@unseen.is wrote:
> Specifically, I issue the "|$ sudo qubes-dom0-update
> qubes-template-debian-10"and I get red lettering and "error could not
> delete old database at
> /var/lib/qubes/dom0-updates/home/user/.rpmold.xxxx" where xxxx changes
> if I repeat the command and that error appears. Other times I get red
> lettering without that specific error and (via sys-whonix) it downloads
> the info it needs and then I get "No Match for argument
> qubes-template-debian-10 nothing to download".
> |
> |
> |
> |If I try "|$ sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-9"||- same
> thing "No Match for argument qubes-template-debian-9 nothing to download".|

Hi donovan,

Those qubes-dom0-update commands should work. However, dnf occasionally
forgets about packages bc of problems in its cache. To clear dnf caches,
run this in dom0:

sudo qubes-dom0-update --action="clean all"

Then re-run your template install:

sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-10

--
Chris Laprise, tas...@posteo.net
https://github.com/tasket
https://twitter.com/ttaskett
PGP: BEE2 20C5 356E 764A 73EB 4AB3 1DC4 D106 F07F 1886

[dono...@unseen.is]

Chris,

Thanks for quick reply. Ran the above command aaand oops:

ERROR: yum version installed in VM host does not support --downloadonly option
ERROR: only 'install' and 'upgrade' actions supported (clean all not)

DG

[dono...@unseen.is]

----- On Feb 25, 2020, at 4:06 PM, dono...@unseen.is wrote:

> ----- On Feb 25, 2020, at 3:46 PM, Chris Laprise tas...@posteo.net wrote:
>
>> On 2/25/20 4:12 PM, dono...@unseen.is wrote:
>>> Specifically, I issue the "|$ sudo qubes-dom0-update
>>> qubes-template-debian-10"and I get red lettering and "error could not
>>> delete old database at
>>> /var/lib/qubes/dom0-updates/home/user/.rpmold.xxxx" where xxxx changes
>>> if I repeat the command and that error appears. Other times I get red
>>> lettering without that specific error and (via sys-whonix) it downloads
>>> the info it needs and then I get "No Match for argument
>>> qubes-template-debian-10 nothing to download".
>>> |
>>> |
>>> |
>>> |If I try "|$ sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-9"||- same
>>> thing "No Match for argument qubes-template-debian-9 nothing to download".|
>>
>> Hi donovan,
>>
>> Those qubes-dom0-update commands should work. However, dnf occasionally
>> forgets about packages bc of problems in its cache. To clear dnf caches,
>> run this in dom0:
>>
>> sudo qubes-dom0-update --action="clean all"

>> being "no such domain 'Debian-10'"

>> Then re-run your template install:
>>
>> sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-10
>>
>> --
>> Chris Laprise, tas...@posteo.net
>> https://github.com/tasket
>> https://twitter.com/ttaskett
>> PGP: BEE2 20C5 356E 764A 73EB 4AB3 1DC4 D106 F07F 1886
>
> Chris,
>
> Thanks for quick reply. Ran the above command aaand oops:
>
> ERROR: yum version installed in VM host does not support --downloadonly option
> ERROR: only 'install' and 'upgrade' actions supported (clean all not)
>
> DG
>

Some progress.

Using "sudo qubes-dom0-update --clean" did the trick for cleaning the dnf cache.

Using "sudo qubes-dom0-update --action=reinstall qubes-template-debian-10" got my reinstall done. It squawked about there being "no such domain 'debian-10'", but it ran through the reinstall fine.

Now I need to figure out how to clean up the primary drive a bit as I think I used a lot more drive space than can be accounted for by the install. However, I have Debian now, so I can build my production VM! Lots to learn. Turned off my Windows box and dove into the deep end.

DG