Versionitis
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I appreciate that this isn't directly a coding WTF, but it's related and I'm sure many people have done something similar, so I thought I'd share it anyway. Many years ago I was developing on a Solaris machine. One day in the middle of an intense period of coding I realised that the C runtime library on my machine was several years old. 'Gosh', I thought, 'Id better update that. It's bound to make me more productive'. So I downloaded the C library source and compiled it. Being Unix there was no real installation method so I took it upon myself to just copy the runtime over the existing one (excuse the command-line usage but I'm sure you get the meaning -
lsisdirandmvismove).cp newruntime.so /usr/lib/oldruntime.so
cp: failed, file is in useOh. A problem. In a moment of temporary insanity I thought 'I bet that moving it would work. But I should be careful and keep the old library, just in case'.
mv /usr/lib/oldruntime.so /usr/lib/oldruntime.so.backup
mv successfulGreat! Let me just have a look to check:
ls
ls: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadMaybe some extra arguments will do the trick...
ls -la
ls: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadCrap. Better try and restore the old version...
mv /usr/lib/oldruntime.so.backup /usr/lib/oldruntime.so
mv: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadA perfectly idiotic way to hose a machine due to versionitis! Exact messages have been changed for brevity.
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I appreciate that this isn't directly a coding WTF, but it's related and I'm sure many people have done something similar, so I thought I'd share it anyway. Many years ago I was developing on a Solaris machine. One day in the middle of an intense period of coding I realised that the C runtime library on my machine was several years old. 'Gosh', I thought, 'Id better update that. It's bound to make me more productive'. So I downloaded the C library source and compiled it. Being Unix there was no real installation method so I took it upon myself to just copy the runtime over the existing one (excuse the command-line usage but I'm sure you get the meaning -
lsisdirandmvismove).cp newruntime.so /usr/lib/oldruntime.so
cp: failed, file is in useOh. A problem. In a moment of temporary insanity I thought 'I bet that moving it would work. But I should be careful and keep the old library, just in case'.
mv /usr/lib/oldruntime.so /usr/lib/oldruntime.so.backup
mv successfulGreat! Let me just have a look to check:
ls
ls: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadMaybe some extra arguments will do the trick...
ls -la
ls: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadCrap. Better try and restore the old version...
mv /usr/lib/oldruntime.so.backup /usr/lib/oldruntime.so
mv: dynamic library c-runtime failed to loadA perfectly idiotic way to hose a machine due to versionitis! Exact messages have been changed for brevity.
your toe after shooting yourself in the foot like that? :) Could you restore from a backup tape, or something like that.
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler] Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp] The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson] I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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your toe after shooting yourself in the foot like that? :) Could you restore from a backup tape, or something like that.
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler] Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp] The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson] I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]