[Mailman-Users] Corrupt config.db (and missing config.db.last)

[Jon Carnes]

you can use the "strings" utility on the existing (but corrupt) files
and see if there is any valuable ascii information in the sections of
the file that are not corrupt.  Segments of the user list crop up in the
database several times so you might be able to resurrect your list that
way.  Painful, but it can be done.

Since you apparently don't have backups - naughty naughty! - you might
also be able to look in the log files and resurrect your user list that
way.  Look for a message going out to the list, mark down the time, head
over to the MTA logs and look at all the outgoing mail beginning at that
time.

Good Luck - Jon Carnes

On Tue, 2003-09-30 at 10:47, Dallace Marable wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm hoping someone can point me into a direction that will allow me to 
> rebuild a mailing list that I created about 3 months ago that got 
> corrupt last night.  Quick story and then the question.
> 
> Story:
> Having a weird problem where my HDD (linux) goes into read only.  when 
> this happens I can't do anything that requires writing.  Well this 
> happened last night, and it wouldn't let me umount / init 1 so I had to 
> just power off <gasp>.  On bootup fsck couldn't fix all the problems 
> automatically so I had to run fsck manually.  There were problems with 
> the file /var/lib/mailman/cincidsm/config.db.last which I was asked 
> to "fix(y)" and I did.
> 
> Problem:
> Now, when I email the list, I get a bounce, and error's in 
> the /var/log/mailman/error log.  I can't get to the email right now, 
> but the error log show's:
> 
> admin(1260): [----- Mailman Version: 2.0.11 -----]
> admin(1260): [----- Traceback ------]
> admin(1260): Traceback (most recent call last):
> admin(1260):   File "/var/lib/mailman/scripts/driver", line 98, in 
> run_main
> admin(1260):     main()
> admin(1260):   File "/usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/Cgi/listinfo.py", line 
> 38, in main
> admin(1260):     FormatListinfoOverview()
> admin(1260):   File "/usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/Cgi/listinfo.py", line 
> 84, in FormatListinfoOverview
> admin(1260):     mlist = MailList.MailList(n, lock=0)
> admin(1260):   File "/usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/MailList.py", line 79, in 
> __init__
> admin(1260):     self.Load()
> admin(1260):   File "/usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/MailList.py", line 904, 
> in Load
> admin(1260):     raise Errors.MMCorruptListDatabaseError, e
> admin(1260): MMCorruptListDatabaseError: [Errno 2] No such file or 
> directory: '/var/lib/mailman/lists/cincidsm/config.db.last'
> 
> I also see another error in there:
> Sep 30 09:40:28 2003 (1260) cincidsm db file was corrupt, using 
> fallback: /var/lib/mailman/lists/cincidsm/config.db.last
> Sep 30 09:40:28 2003 (1260) cincidsm fallback was corrupt, giving up
> Sep 30 09:40:28 2003 admin(1260): 
> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
> 
> 
> Is there any way to fix this situation without deleting and recreating 
> the list?  Are there ways to "rebuild" the config file from the command 
> line?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated, as until i get this worked out 
> my list it down :-(
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dallace
> 
> 
> 
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