yum damaging rpm database on FC5

[Garrett Mitchener]

Just for the record, I also had some trouble with the FC6 install &
upgrade having to do with the RPM database.

I tried upgrading from FC5 to FC6 on my old Dell inspiron 8000.  This
computer came with Red Hat 7.0, and I upgraded it to 7.2, 9, FC1-5.
Each upgrade took longer and longer -- the last one took over 24
hours.  Then when I tried upgrading to FC6 the installer just barfed
and gave me error messages about a bad RPM database.  So I decided to
wipe the system and install FC6 fresh.  I had to run the installation
in text mode from a fire wire hard drive.  It still failed the first
time.  When I ran it again, the installation succeeded but along the
way it gave me screens full of errors about locks and the RPM
database.

I successfully upgraded my thinkpad T42 in graphical mode from FC5 to
FC6 and didn't see any of these errors, but they might have been
invisible behind the X interface.

-- Garrett Mitchener