pkg/41452: pkg_add failure for local packages

[nbsdold%gmx.net@localhost]

>Number:         41452
>Category:       pkg
>Synopsis:       pkg_add failure for local packages
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    pkg-manager
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Mon May 18 06:35:00 +0000 2009
>Originator:     Nino Ivanov
>Release:        5.0
>Organization:
>Environment:
(Forgot to copy that, but I am using only the generic kernel, and did not make 
any optimisations myself.)
>Description:
Dear Sir or Madam,

when I am trying to install a package from a local
source I get at random failure messages for random
packages; examples are given below for firefox3,
resulting from two consecutive attempts on the same
machine:

# pkg_add firefox3
gzip: data stream error
tar: End of archive volume 1 reached
tar: Unexpected EOF on archive file
pkg_add: extract of /cdrom/./firefox3-3.0.10.tgz failed
pkg_add: unable to extract `/cdrom./firefox3-3.0.10.tgz´!
pkg_add: 1 package addition failed
#

# pkg_add firefox3
tar: Invalid header, starting valid header search.
gzip: invalid compressed data--crc error
tar: End of archive volume 1 reached
tar: Unexpected EOF on archive file
pkg_add: extract of /cdrom/./firefox3-3.0.10.tgz failed
pkg_add: unable to extract `/cdrom./firefox3-3.0.10.tgz´!
pkg_add: 1 package addition failed
#

I must stress that the package is actually fine. Xubuntu
8.04 can, in fact, extract it. I have tried to put the
packages on a FAT-formatted USB-stick as well as on a CD.
I get failures in both cases, and it seems indeed pretty
random. Sometimes almost everything works, but once only
lynx was installable.

Having regard to the failure messages, NetBSD apparently
cannot be "persuaded". Trying later with the same medium
will not help, once it decides a package to be "defect",
it stays with that decision. However, a newly installed
NetBSD on the same disk as the previous installation,
i.e. reinstalling NetBSD, changes the situation - then,
OTHER packages may be marked as "defect". Can be more,
can be less, can be the same, can be others, can be all,
can be none.

Moreover, I noticed a correlation with the file system
layout, too. My current installation uses block size /
fragment size 16k/2k, producing rather few installation
errors, while a previous setup producing especially
many errors used 4k/512b for the file system. I still
experience errors, mostly on libxml2, libxslt, py25-dbus
and possibly others. I installed NetBSD both on an
internal PATA notebook harddisk and an external
USB-stick, but that seemed to have no influence, in both
cases I experienced errors.
>How-To-Repeat:
Try installing packages from a local collection, e.g. on a USB stick or CD-ROM.
>Fix:
Have several media containing packages prepared. When one
package fails, try to install it from another medium.