[SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

quasifilmie · 2011-12-19 20:17:34

The error message

error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

I got this message and then I was told some issue about mounting as expected. I rebooted and I get the same error message as above. Hopefully this can be fixed easily

About a week and a half ago. I accidentally extracted an Ubuntu ISO (maybe an arch one) into the root filesystem. It started so quick but I aborted and removed at least most of those files.

Last edited by quasifilmie (2011-12-21 23:04:47)

loafer · 2011-12-19 20:26:24

This has been discussed on the mailing lists. You need to use pacman's --force option.

stefanwilkens · 2011-12-19 21:21:06

For other users:

Currently, this can occur if you have the [testing] repository enabled. Users that have this repository enabled should constantly watch the mailing lists.

on arch-dev-public:
http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/ … 22242.html

on arch-general:
http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/ … 23507.html

Once this change hits the normal repositories, a news article will be posted. [testing] users need to watch the mailing lists to be aware before that time.

Mr.Elendig · 2011-12-20 16:48:56

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57205
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=130138

sonoran · 2011-12-21 00:08:47

Happened to me also today:

(29/29) checking for file conflicts
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Looking in /etc I found the mtab file and another named mtab.fuselock, a 0 byte file dated 12-06.I renamed both files after which the pacman update completed successfully and left an mtab link in /etc.

I don't have the Testing repo enabled at the moment.

Last edited by sonoran (2011-12-21 00:09:40)

karol · 2011-12-21 00:26:01

It has already been pushed to [core] http://www.archlinux.org/packages/core/any/filesystem/
You have the announcement on the main page: http://www.archlinux.org/ and on the Planet + ML.

jaco · 2011-12-21 00:42:20

If you have NFS mounts, check that your mounted path has a trailing / (in the first field of /etc/fstab), too...

hadrons123 · 2011-12-21 01:21:17

i usually update without reading the news,which is not recommended that i already know.But today i was checking the homepage to see if firefox 9 has come on stable repos.i was lucky to read the filesystem news announcement and did the update as recomended by tom.But how to fix pacman if someone didnt use '--force' to upgrade the filesystem?

Last edited by hadrons123 (2011-12-21 01:22:24)

karol · 2011-12-21 01:40:55

hadrons123 wrote:

But how to fix pacman if someone didnt use '--force' to upgrade the filesystem?

But what *did* you (or that person) do?
Did pacman update the system w/o using '--force'?

hadrons123 · 2011-12-21 01:47:25

i did a

pacman -S filesystem --force

my pacman is fine.but i was talking about someone who didnt use the -f switch like the OP.

karol · 2011-12-21 01:55:06

hadrons123 wrote:

i did a
pacman -S filesystem --force
my pacman is fine.but i was talking about someone who didnt use the -f switch like the OP.

Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Nothing happened.

hadrons123 · 2011-12-21 01:58:14

[root@DRAGONFLY ~]# pacman -S filesystem --force
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): filesystem-2011.12-2

Total Download Size:    0.00 MB
Total Installed Size:   0.06 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages from core...
 filesystem-2011.12...     4.1K  186.6K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                   [######################] 100%
(1/1) upgrading filesystem                         [######################] 100%
[root@DRAGONFLY ~]#

this is what happened.karol, what are you trying to do here? i already said my pacman is fine.

Last edited by hadrons123 (2011-12-21 01:59:46)

karol · 2011-12-21 02:26:35

You asked what would happen to someone like OP, who didn't use '--force': nothing would happen. His system wouldn't be updated as it's written in pacman output posted by OP in the first post.

sonoran · 2011-12-21 03:52:48

The update worked for me without --force after I renamed /etc/mtab. Maybe pacman is smarter than we suspect.

hadrons123 · 2011-12-21 04:02:34

However, in this particular case it is needed as deleting /etc/mtab manually would break pacman.

as per the homepage latest news.

what i understand is that if you dont use -f switch it would break pacman(so that you wont be able to use pacman following that).maybe i didn't get the implication of the qoute properly.

Last edited by hadrons123 (2011-12-21 04:03:30)

karol · 2011-12-21 11:28:46

Read what happened when a dev tried to do it manually w/o '--force':
http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/ … 22243.html
http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/ … 22244.html

Ramses de Norre · 2011-12-21 11:48:31

sonoran wrote:

The update worked for me without --force after I renamed /etc/mtab. Maybe pacman is smarter than we suspect.

It works if you don't have disk space checking enabled, but pacman will choke if you do have that feature enabled. That's why the news item states that you should use --force, other methods might fail depending on the user's configuration.

scjet · 2011-12-21 18:54:30

sonoran wrote:

The update worked for me without --force after I renamed /etc/mtab. Maybe pacman is smarter than we suspect.

sry, but you're wrong.
I renamed/moved /etc/mtab but it still failed with the same error messge.
so ya, others are right here, you have to usee the "--force" option for it to complete the upgrade.
(ie: pacman -Syu --force) ...

Ramses de Norre · 2011-12-21 18:58:26

scjet wrote:

sonoran wrote:
The update worked for me without --force after I renamed /etc/mtab. Maybe pacman is smarter than we suspect.
sry, but you're wrong.
I renamed/moved /etc/mtab but it still failed with the same error messge.
so ya, others are right here, you have to usee the "--force" option for it to complete the upgrade.
(ie: pacman -Syu --force) ...

Did you read my reply? He's not wrong, the success of manually deleting the file just depends on your pacman config.

hap · 2011-12-21 21:00:16

Global Updating ERROR

My first ARch installation, so far; no testing repo enabled.

# pacman -Syu

error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
initscripts: /etc/profile.d/locale.sh exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

1. --force: no success

2. renamed:
# mv locale.sh locale.org

Global Updating OK

mcmillan · 2011-12-21 21:09:43

Hap, It's an earlier issue, as also covered if you read the news on the main page

https://www.archlinux.org/news/initscri … -required/

karol · 2011-12-21 21:22:40

mcmillan wrote:

Hap, It's an earlier issue, as also covered if you read the news on the main page
https://www.archlinux.org/news/initscri … -required/

Yup.
Unfortunately checking all the main page news since the "release iso" you're using (my guess is 2011.08.19) is the only way to perform a successful update.

hap · 2011-12-21 21:56:53

mcmillan
Today 19:09:43
Hap, It's an earlier issue, as also covered if you read the news on the main page
https://www.archlinux.org/news/initscri … -required/

ok, thank you, I begin to understand (first serious linux steps)!

karol · 2011-12-21 22:05:15

hap, if you want to quote some post, use the 'Quote' link in the bottom right corner of the post you want to quote.
Check my previous post to see how nice it looks when done properly :-)

quasifilmie · 2011-12-21 23:04:09

I was not sure if I should use the --force switch so I posted here. Pacman -Syuf worked fine without error. Marking as solved.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-12-19 20:17:34

[SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#2 2011-12-19 20:26:24

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#3 2011-12-19 21:21:06

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#4 2011-12-20 16:48:56

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#5 2011-12-21 00:08:47

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#6 2011-12-21 00:26:01

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#7 2011-12-21 00:42:20

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#8 2011-12-21 01:21:17

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#9 2011-12-21 01:40:55

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#10 2011-12-21 01:47:25

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#11 2011-12-21 01:55:06

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#12 2011-12-21 01:58:14

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#13 2011-12-21 02:26:35

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#14 2011-12-21 03:52:48

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#15 2011-12-21 04:02:34

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#16 2011-12-21 11:28:46

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#17 2011-12-21 11:48:31

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#18 2011-12-21 18:54:30

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#19 2011-12-21 18:58:26

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#20 2011-12-21 21:00:16

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#21 2011-12-21 21:09:43

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#22 2011-12-21 21:22:40

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#23 2011-12-21 21:56:53

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#24 2011-12-21 22:05:15

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

#25 2011-12-21 23:04:09

Re: [SOLVED] Weird Pacman Error Can't Update System

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