In a rare instance of a software update breaking the Raspberry Pi, a patch for the Pi’s official Raspbian OS left a number of the low-cost computers inoperable.
The update to Raspbian on Monday caused machines to crash and to fail to boot.
Anyone affected by the update can fix the problem by removing the Pi’s microSD card, accessing the card on another computer and deleting the etc/ld.so.preload file.
Linux and embedded computing expert Michael Opdenacker also recommends that those affected also repair the second partition on the microSD card using the command e2fsck -f /dev/mmcblk0p2 in the terminal on Linux-based systems.
Fixing the issue may be tricky where admins don’t have physical access to the Pi, however, with the update also appearing to break the ability to use SSH to remotely connect to machines.
SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)
The issue appears to have been fixed very quickly, with a Raspberry Pi Trading engineer advising that version 0.10 should be safe to download later on the same day.
It’s rare for updates to Raspbian to cause these sort of problems, with Raspberry Pi Foundation having a reputation for offering the best software support available for single-board computers.
The foundation has invested a lot in updating the Pi’s official Raspbian OS, employing dedicated staff to work on improving software over time: revamping the desktop, adding hardware acceleration for more media players, and upgrading the browser — all while ensuring backward compatibility stretching right back to the very first Raspberry Pi.
If you want to learn more about the Pi and its creation, check out TechRepublic’s in-depth feature Inside the Raspberry Pi: The story of the $35 computer that changed the world.
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