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Upgrade from ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.0.x or ESX 4.x by using the esxupdate command results in an error message (1038732)

Details

While upgrading from ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.0.x or ESX 4.x by using the esxupdate command, you might see an error message similar to the following on the service console:

rpmdb: unable to lock mutex: Invalid argument

ESX 4.0.x and 4.x contain glibc 5.3, whereas ESX 4.0 contains glibc 5.2. The shared futex locking in glibc has been enhanced with per-process futexes in version 5.3. As a result, programs running with glibc 5.2 cannot properly perform shared futex locking against programs running with glibc 5.3. When you perform the upgrade to ESX 4.0.x or 4.x, the esxupdate command runs on glibc 5.2. After glibc 5.3 is installed, some programs, for example third-party agents, might start running on glibc 5.3. However, because esxupdate is still running on glibc 5.2 the error is displayed.

Solution

For more details about these upgrade related issues, see KB 1016070.

To work around the issue, upgrade the glibc RPM bundle separately, or stop any third-party agents before you begin the upgrade process.

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