On Wednesday 08 Jan 2014 11:28:36 Stefan G. Weichinger wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> yesterday I started to upgrade an older gentoo server at a customer. It
> has only been updated now and then as they tend to save money and rarely
> contact me ...
> 
> I recommended to at least apply the stuff mentioned in the GLSAs ... and
> applied some updates today (remote, via ssh).
> 
> Today glibc failed to merge:
> >>> Installing (2 of 3) sys-libs/glibc-2.17
> 
>  * Defaulting /etc/host.conf:multi to on
> /usr/lib/portage/bin/phase-functions.sh: Zeile 87: 26924
> Speicherzugriffsfehler  "${PORTAGE_PYTHON:-/usr/bin/python}"
> "${PORTAGE_BIN_PATH}"/filter-bash-environment.py "${filtered_vars}"
>  * ERROR: sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3::gentoo failed (prerm phase):
>  *   filter-bash-environment.py failed
>  *
>  * Call stack:
>  *            ebuild.sh, line 480:  Called __preprocess_ebuild_env
>  *   phase-functions.sh, line 156:  Called __filter_readonly_variables
> '--filter-features' '--filter-locale' '--filter-path' '--filter-sandbox'
>  *   phase-functions.sh, line 137:  Called die
>  * The specific snippet of code:
>  *   	"${PORTAGE_PYTHON:-/usr/bin/python}"
> "${PORTAGE_BIN_PATH}"/filter-bash-environment.py "${filtered_vars}" ||
> die "filter-bash-environment.py failed"
>  *
>  * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info
> '=sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3::gentoo'`,
>  * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv
> '=sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3::gentoo'`.
>  * The complete build log is located at
> '/var/tmp/portage/._unmerge_/sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3/temp/build.log'.
>  * The ebuild environment file is located at
> '/var/tmp/portage/._unmerge_/sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3/temp/environment'.
>  * Working directory: '/usr/lib/portage/pym'
>  * S: '/var/tmp/portage/._unmerge_/sys-libs/glibc-2.11.3/work/glibc-2.11.3'
> /usr/lib/portage/bin/isolated-functions.sh: Zeile 109: 27001
> Speicherzugriffsfehler  "$PORTAGE_BIN_PATH"/ebuild-ipc exit 1
> 
> But it seems that this is the consequence of problems with python.
> There are various versions installed:
> 
> # eselect python list
> Available Python interpreters:
>   [1]   python2.4
>   [2]   python2.5
>   [3]   python2.6
>   [4]   python2.7 *
>   [5]   python3.1
>   [6]   python3.3
> 
> 
> But I get segfaults (german: Speicherzugriffsfehler) for all of them:
> 
> mail ~ # python2.7
> Speicherzugriffsfehler
> mail ~ # python3.1
> Speicherzugriffsfehler
> mail ~ # python3.3
> Speicherzugriffsfehler
> 
> dmesg shows lines:
> 
> awk[28527]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfc3006c error 4 in
> gawk[8048000+4c000]
> awk[28531]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bff3c8ec error 4 in
> gawk[8048000+4c000]
> find[28706]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bff21c3c error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28707]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bff42c9c error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28708]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfe1a4ac error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28714]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bf82cb5c error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28715]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfa0ef3c error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28716]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfa4c4cc error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28720]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfa1c83c error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> find[28721]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfcf9fbc error 4 in
> find[8048000+21000]
> eix[28731]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfc028ec error 4 in
> eix[8048000+114000]
> python2.7[28732]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfa1c9fc error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28733]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bf8a2c0c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28746]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfeb392c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28747]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfbfcd4c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28749]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfa1b71c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28757]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfeb8b0c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> python2.7[28762]: segfault at 579e ip 0000579e sp bfeb479c error 4 in
> python2.7[8048000+1000]
> 
> 
> 
> This leads to not being able to emerge something :-(
> 
> What can I do? quickpkg some python-version and copy over?
> (sidenote: 32bit box ...)
> 
> I would like to avoid to have to drive there so it would be great to be
> able to fix that from here, via ssh.
> 
> 
> Thanks for any help, Stefan

The segfaults look scary and could point to hardware fault.  I'd run a backup 
of any useful data to start with.

Then run 'python-updater' to rebuild any packages that had their links broken.
-- 
Regards,
Mick