Troubleshooting Applications from Chkbin Logs

This document (7006753) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

Situation

How is the chkbin log organized?
Whenever you have an application that is core dumping, segfaulting or misbehaves, run chkbin against the application and then look at the chkbin log file for troubleshooting information.

Resolution

Chkbin is a troubleshooting tool included in the supportutils package. It checks the basic health of a specific application. The supportconfig tool will gather the /var/log/nts_chkbin* log files and include them in the crash.txt file. If you don't specify the full path to the binary, chkbin searches the current working directory and the PATH environment variable for the executable, and uses it if found. Usage:

chkbin </path/to/binary>

Chkbin does the following:

Checks the location of each shared library
Identifies each RPM package owner for the binary and each of it's shared library dependencies
Validates each unique RPM package
Displays the root environment variables LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LD_PRELOAD
Gets a copy of the configuration files /etc/ld.so.conf and /etc/ld.so.preload
Checks for unique dlopen libraries and their validity

If any of the RPM packages show damage to the binary or any of it's shared library dependencies, consider reinstalling the affected RPM packages and retesting.

If the RPM validation shows modifications to configuration files, confirm the modifications are correct and the configuration is valid.

If an application cannot find a shared library make sure the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable is set correctly according to the application's documentation and run ldconfig.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.