RHBA-2008:0770 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated rhn-applet package that fixes various bugs is now available.

Description

The rhn-applet package contains a panel applet that indicates when updated
Red Hat Enterprise Linux packages are available.

This updated package fixes the following bugs:

• if connection failed, rhn-applet configuration was disabled, and changes

to the "/etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhn-applet" and "~/.rhn-applet.conf" files were
ignored. In this updated package, rhn-applet can be configured when an
error occurs, and when it is in the disconnected state.

• when a system was re-registered to a Red Hat Network Satellite Server,

the rhn-applet local cache was not updated. In these situations, users
were not alerted of new updates unless they first logged out, and logged
in again. In this updated package, rhn-applet correctly refreshes its
cache when a system is re-registered to a Red Hat Network Satellite Server,
which resolves this issue.

• in certain situations, on 64-bit systems, rhn-applet reported that there

were updates available, even when there were not. For example, if the
32-bit firefox packages were installed on a 64-bit system, and updates for
the 64-bit firefox packages were available, but not for the 32-bit
packages, rhn-applet reported that updates were available. Such updates
were not visible when running the "up2date" command. In this updated
package, the client-side fix for this issue has been included, and once the
server starts serving the architecture information, the correct available
updates are shown when using 64-bit systems.

• due to a corrupt PNG image file, running the "rhn-applet-gui" command may

have caused a traceback, and the following error:

gobject.GError: Couldn't recognize the image file format for file
'/usr/share/pixmaps/applet-okay.png'

The corrupt "applet-okay.png" file has been removed, and replaced with a
valid version.

• if an error occurred after checking for updates, left-clicking on the

rhn-applet icon may have caused a traceback, and a "ValueError: min() or
max() arg is an empty sequence" error.

Users of rhn-applet are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_10188

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 232654 - applet erraneously shows package as available for update on 64 bit

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)