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Help Can't install or update programs

this problem is caused by a temporary file called smdl2tmp1.asec that is used during some installations (I think of apps that are movable to SD) but does not get deleted for some reason, most notably when you run out of space. Because of this, the system can't create it and treats it as an error, rather than figuring out that it's stale and simply deleting it.
The solution? Go and delete smdl2tmp1.asec yourself. From what I can tell, it could reside in 2 locations:
  1. /sdcard/.android_secure - this is an invisible folder on your SD card, which you can access with any file manager, like ASTRO
  2. /mnt/secure/asec/ - access to this folder requires root and a program like Root Explorer
Look for smdl2tmp1.asec in these folders and delete any ones you see. Deleting it seems to be a safe enough operation - it's just a temporary file after all. Once you've done that, all the update problems should go away:

I/logwrapper( 170): /system/bin/newfs_msdos terminated by exit(0)
I/PackageHelper(15175): Created secure container smdl2tmp1 at /mnt/asec/smdl2tmp1
I/DefContainer(15175): Created container for smdl2tmp1 at path : /mnt/asec/smdl2tmp1
I/DefContainer(15175): Copied /cache/32.apk to /mnt/asec/smdl2tmp1/pkg.apk
I/DefContainer(15175): Finalized container smdl2tmp1
I/DefContainer(15175): Unmounting smdl2tmp1 at path /mnt/asec/smdl2tmp1
 
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