Software Update Heart Attack
2006-03-02 14:52:50
I installed the latest security patch from Apple this morning. It required reboot (come on, Apple, quit it).
After reboot I could not log in with my normal username. We're using an LDAP login on our network, so I figured it was some kind of hiccup with that. Not to worry, I thought, I'll just use my backup (local) user account and see what's what.
Oops, that one wasn't working either. Oh crap. Did I forget the password?
Panic starting to set in. I have a lot of work to do today, and I don't want to blow the morning doing an OS repair. And I certainly don't want to endure the taunts of the Windows who sits at the desk on my left. Or the Linux user who sits on my right, for that matter. No problem, I'll ssh in using my public key. That will bypass any password issues, LDAP or otherwise.
So I hopped on to my backup keyboard (connected to my backup machine, which happens to be Ubuntu Linux).
slayer% ssh buffy ssh: connect to host buffy port 22: Connection refused slayer%
OK. Now I'm freaking out. I really don't want to pull out the install DVD. In desperation, I reboot again. That should make no difference, right? Wrong. Everything is fine on reboot. As if nothing was ever wrong. No trace of a problem can be found in the system logs. Ugh.
Lessons:
1. make sure you know your backup account password.
2. don't accept reboot patches in the middle of the morning.
3. think seriously about switching to linux full time. (giving up itunes would be hard)
UPDATE: Derek just did this update on his mac, and it actually had a thing that said "ok you need to reboot one more time." Looks like they patched the patch, and I am not nuts.