yum completely freezes as root

[Ken Schutte]

Miner, Jonathan W (CSC) (US SSA) wrote:
>> Karl Larsen wrote:
>>>    Try it after you do a su - in a terminal window. The simple su gives 
>>> you a sort-of root. The su - makes it a real root termial.
>>>
>> Just tried it - same thing, it freezes.  Happens for "su", "su -", and 
>> "sudo".
> 
> Two things that I have done in the past to resolve problems with rpm and yum commands that hang.
> 
> 1) rm /var/lib/rpm/__db.00*
> 
> I'm not sure what information is held in these files, but deleting them seems to clear up some problems. The files get automatically re-created
> 
> 2) yum clean all
> 

Number (1) did the trick.  I had tried 'yum clean all', but that was 
also freezing.  Seems to be back to normal - thanks!