autoconf receipt.bz2 is not a bzip2 file (was: Re: bzip2 arch error)

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Mar 19, 2010, at 07:45, Zhu Sha Zang wrote:

>>> Error: /opt/local/bin/port: port installed failed: bzip2:
>>> /opt/local/var/macports/receipts/autoconf/2.65_0/receipt.bz2
>>> is not a bzip2 file.
>> 
>> Apparently your autoconf @2.65_0 receipt is corrupted. I don't
>> know why. If you have a backup (Time Machine, etc.) of this computer,
>> can you restore that file from the backup?
> 
> If i don't have a backup macport are dead to me?

No, we'll just have to rebuild it.

I suggest you move /opt/local/var/macports/receipts/autoconf/2.65_0/receipt.bz2 aside, for example by moving it to your desktop.

sudo mv /opt/local/var/macports/receipts/autoconf/2.65_0/receipt.bz2 ~/Desktop

This will make MacPorts think autoconf @2.65_0 is not installed, though of course it still is. Reinstall autoconf so MacPorts knows it's installed.

sudo port install autoconf

It will complain that the files it wants to install are already installed. Force the activation:

sudo port -f activate autoconf

That should do it. Hopefully none of your other receipts are corrupt. Receipts should not corrupt themselves, so there is still a mystery about why your autoconf receipt got corrupted. Perhaps examining the file in a hex editor would reveal something interesting. You could send me the receipt.bz2 and I'll have a look at it and see if there's anything useful in it.


Remember to Reply All so your replies go to the mailing list too, not just to me.


And you may want to take the time now to set up a backup strategy for your Mac, so that if you run into other problems with your data in the future you'll be able to restore it.