Smart 0.4.12 freeze on suse 10

[Mikus Grinbergs]

In the past 10 days I've twice seen smart --gui "freeze" during
a "many-package" upgrade on SuSE 10.  [I've NOT seen it "freeze"
on a "few-package" upgrade.]  When smart does not freeze, the
'Updating'? window (after the 'Download' window) disappears by
itself, and the display shows the 'main' smart window.  What I
call a "freeze" is when the 'Updating'? window stops showing
new packages being worked on, and appears to stay as is forever.

To get rid of "frozen" smart windows, I usually reboot.  [I
don't remember if I was/was_not able to do a kill -9, but for
me a reboot seems more reassuring.]

What I would LIKE is a "guaranteed" way to recover from smart
abnormal termination.  What I did after my last "smart freeze"
was apt-get update/upgrade against the same repositories.  That
downloaded and installed several packages.  [I don't know if
these were what smart failed to install, or if the repositories
changed between the original smart "reload" and the subsequent
apt-get "update".]

I have never (with either apt or smart) been able to identify any
rpm-database corruption following a smart abnormal behavior.
Smart's "Fix All Problems ..." function has always resulted in
"no change to my display" when used after a reboot after a smart
abnormal behavior.     [That reminds me of POOR human factors --
on SuSE 10, when I click on this, the cursor does __not__ change
to "busy".  I need to sit around and WAIT.  When after xx seconds
I have seen NO CHANGE to the 'main' smart window, I conclude that
there have been no problems to fix.  I would prefer an unambiguous
"signal" that smart has finished working on that specific request.
Throbbers, anyone? ]

mikus


p.s.  Is there a way for me to specify "window size" to smart?

      For me the 'Download' window opens too small.  After I
      have adjusted its size, the 'Updating'? window opens to
      the same (desirable) size.  But when I close smart and
      open it the next time, the 'Download' window has reverted
      to its default small (inadequate) size.