Error Message: line 557: "# CONSOLE_MAGIC can be empty..."

Support knowledgebase (jsj_console_magic)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Version 7.1
This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux. Therefore some of the informations given in this article may be outdated or the article may contain stale links.

Symptom:

An error message similar to the one below is displayed when booting the system or starting single services with rc scripts:
/etc/rc.config: line 557: syntax error near unexpected token `"(B'
/etc/rc.config: line 557: `# CONSOLE_MAGIC can be empty or have the values "(B", ")B", "(K" or ")K".'

Cause:

Possible causes include:

Solution:

Edit the file /etc/rc.config with an editor that does not use automatic line wrapping, such as vi or pico. Search for the lines:

UPDATEDB_PRUNEPATHS="/S.u.S.E. /mnt /cdrom /tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp /var/spool "
/proc "
Delete the " at the end of the first line and append the second line to the first one in a single line. It should look like this:
UPDATEDB_PRUNEPATHS="/S.u.S.E. /mnt /cdrom /tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp /var/spool /proc"

Hint

This phenomenon might affect other lines, too. In this case, look for two successive lines with a quotation mark " as shown in the example above and correct it accordingly.

Versions from SuSE Linux 7.2 on are not affected, since the rc.config editor no longer modifies this file's format.


Keywords: CONSOLE, MAGIC, CONSOLE_MAGIC, RC.CONFIG, RC_CONFIG

Categories: Booting

SDB-jsj_console_magic, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 05. Jul 2001
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 16. Mai 2002 by jsj (sdb_gen 1.40.0)