Arch Linux

Minigun

Member

Registered: 2010-07-06

Posts: 5

Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

My problem in short, when trying to upgrade system (pacman must be updated first):

Targets (1): pacman-3.4.0-2  

Total Download Size:    0.64 MB
Total Installed Size:   2.23 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
:: Retrieving packages from core...
 pacman-3.4.0-2-x86_64    658.3K    3.2M/s 00:00:00 [#####################] 100%
checking package integrity...
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                   [#####################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
pacman: /usr/bin/cleanupdelta exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/lib/libalpm.so.5 exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/lib/libalpm.so.5.0.0 exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/ca/LC_MESSAGES/libalpm.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/ca/LC_MESSAGES/pacman.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/el/LC_MESSAGES/libalpm.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/el/LC_MESSAGES/pacman.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/nb/LC_MESSAGES/libalpm.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/nb/LC_MESSAGES/pacman.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/sv/LC_MESSAGES/libalpm.mo exists in filesystem
pacman: /usr/share/locale/sv/LC_MESSAGES/pacman.mo exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Querying pacman it says the currently installed version is 3.3.0-3. I've tried pacman -Scc. Trying with -f pacman just removes itself but is then naturally (?) unable to install itself back. I even tried compiling pacman myself, which did succeed, but pacman was searching for its config from wrong place (there was some kind of bug report thread or something about this, but no solution IIRC). Any suggestions?

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

Read this sticky

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=56373

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Minigun

Member

Registered: 2010-07-06

Posts: 5

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

Hmm, I just noticed something interesting: /usr/bin/pacman belongs to pacman version 3.3.0-3 but the conflicting files belong to version 3.4.0-2.

Last edited by Minigun (2010-07-06 19:07:48)

loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

I'm not sure what you did here.  "pacman -Scc" simply clears the cache.  Never use the f (force) option unless you are sure what you are doing ... are you saying that you have no pacman installed now?  That's not what the post indicates as it shows pacman output?

edit: ok, just read your edited post.  You could try getting the pacman package and untaring it to /.  Then update pacman.  No idea if it will work though.

Last edited by loafer (2010-07-06 19:11:42)

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Minigun

Member

Registered: 2010-07-06

Posts: 5

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

Naturally, I keep backups of my system. Ie: when I lost pacman, I restored a backup and here I am.

loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

Looks like to restored an older version of some files.

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All men have stood for freedom...
For freedom is the man that will turn the world upside down.
Gerrard Winstanley.

Minigun

Member

Registered: 2010-07-06

Posts: 5

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

Nope, I restored _the whole system_ ie. I emptied the HDD before restoring.

Also, I just tried manually extracting the pacman package from pacman cache. No luck

Minigun

Member

Registered: 2010-07-06

Posts: 5

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

I tried restoring the old backup again. This time, I checked that the conflicting files didn't exist in the system. But then, boom, same error when trying to update. Maybe I'll just reinstall Arch, it seems that something has gone really foobar along the way. Quite odd, though, because I haven't really touched anything - seems that pacman has just somehow hanged itself. Worked fine about seven months in a row, though The backup is like two months old. Seems that if Arch is left unupgraded for too long something bad is going to happen.

Last edited by Minigun (2010-07-06 20:47:17)

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: Pacman fails to update itself (file conflicts)

You could just force pacman to update, since you know those files belong to pacman and not some other package anyway. Use -Sf.

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