Re: cpio errors on install: Bad Magic

In article <3401D3A0.203F8FBC@echonyc.com>, Cosmo Lee <*NO- SPAM*cosmo@echonyc.com> writes >Yes, I already know that the Informix install instructions are wrong. >I've informed Informix of this a number of times some time ago, but they >still haven't corrected them. Anyway, the file is called "online.cpi". >The "Bad Magic" error doesn't come until quite a number of files have >been extracted by `cpio`, so I know I'm at least mounting the CD ok, and >that this is not the issue. > OK. >I tried using the "-k" option (thanks for this suggestion!). This >instructs `cpio` to try to skip files with bad headers. Originally the >`cpio` would fail after copying a file named "nformbld.iem", and was >looking for the next file. After trying to use the "-k" option, `cpio` >didn't show any more files after "nformbld.iem", but complained that >there was no end of archive marker. So this might have been the >problem. > Sounds like something wrong with the cpio file. Try dd if=online.cpi of=/dev/nulll bs=512 and see if any errors come back from reading the file. >I assumed that "nformbld.iem" might have been the last file in the >archive and ran `installonline`, and the install seems to have gone ok, >and Online is running alright so far. > There still may be a problem... >Still, I'm puzzled as to why Informix did not have this error on their >Unixware machines when they tested the re-shipped CDs, and I get them >consistenly on 3 different machines. > cpio is not truely portable. I've found that using creating a cpio archive on one machine and trying to read it on one of out customers machines (I sent it via kermit with level 3 i.e. extensive error checking). However a) you could extract the cpio file if you did it on the same machine. b) running the 'sum' command on both machines showed the files to be the same. c) Compressing the cpio file and running sum again showed the compressed versions of the files to be the same. i.e. it's not differences in versions of sum. Using tar instead worked! Similarly with our machine and a different customers machine tar fails but cpio works! Another customer cpio works but only if you use the -C65536 option, can you try this? ]If I had the time I'd install gnu tar (ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu /tar) ...everywhere and be done with it!] > >> The instrutions are wrong! Do not do >> >> cpio -icVBum < <device name> >> >> this only works with tapes which do not have a filesystem on them. >> >> Instead mount the CD-ROM as another filesystem (E.g. /cdrom), then >> do >> >> ls /cdrom >> >> and you will probably find a big file on there (E.g. >> /cdrom/online7.2) >> >> >> Do >> >> cpio -icVBum < /cdrom/online7.2 >> >> or whatever the file is called.... >> >> The installation instructions need updating now that Informix are >> sending out CD-ROM rather then just tapes and floppies (Yes I >> have seen and installed Informix from floppy)!. >> >> -- >> David Williams > > > >-- >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * >ADDRESS ALTERED TO FOIL SPAMMERS: Remove "*NO-SPAM*" to reply. > >Cosmo Lee Multi-User Computer Systems Brooklyn, NY > > "JUST SAY 'NO' TO SPAM" >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > -- David Williams