Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

robokomo · 2025-05-22 08:17:34

I'm a new user and this is a fresh install.

When I try installing something through pacman, even neofetch, I get a "Target not found"

[robo@Arch ~]$ sudo pacman -S neofetch
[sudo] password for robo:
error: target not found: neofetch

I tried to look online for any information. Maybe I don't have a library that I can install pkg from or something like that.
I saw that command online /etc/pacman.d/mirrolist to acces to a list of mirror I can download from I think, but I can't access it. I get a "Permission denied" even as ROOT

[robo@Arch ~]$ su
Password:
[root@Arch robo]# /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
bash: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist: Permission denied

Lone_Wolf · 2025-05-22 08:54:14

neofetch is not in archlinux repos, you'll have to build it yourself and install manually.
See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository for details.

There are somne neofetch variants in the repos, use

$ pacman -Ss neofetch

to see which ones.

P.S. please use code tags for such outputs, see https://bbs.archlinux.org/help.php#bbcode

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2025-05-22 08:55:24)

robokomo · 2025-05-22 09:46:08

It's not the question. I don't care about neofetch. What I want to know is why the terminal doesn't work properly.
Every command I find on the internet doesn't work and I can't progress.

[robo@Arch ~]$ su
Password: 
[root@Arch robo]# /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
bash: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist: Permission denied
[root@Arch robo]# /etc/pacman.conf
bash: /etc/pacman.conf: Permission denied
[root@Arch robo]# pacman -S steam
error: target not found: steam
[root@Arch robo]# pacman -S neofetch
error: target not found: neofetch
[root@Arch robo]# pacman-mirrors
bash: pacman-mirrors: command not found
[root@Arch robo]# pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
 there is nothing to do
[root@Arch robo]#

WorMzy · 2025-05-22 10:23:30

'su' and 'pacman -Syu' worked fine
"/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist" and "/etc/pacman.conf" are not commands/scripts. They are configuration files. Use a text editor (i.e. vim, nano, etc.) to modify them.
Steam is in the multilib repo, which you haven't enabled. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam#Installation
Neofetch isn't in the Arch repos, as previously mentioned.
pacman-mirrors isn't a command that I'm familiar with, and is not provided by any Arch package. Where did you read about that?

robokomo · 2025-05-22 11:06:53

Yea, I ended up figuring it out. I had to remove the # mark in front of the multilib repo in the actual file. Idk why I thought they were command line (I feel like a saw /etc/pacman.conf being used in the console). From what I understand neofetch is no longer developed so I downloaded fastfetch by using Lone_Wolf's command. The pacman-mirrors command I'm not sure where I saw it. I saw a bunch of command line while searching for an answer.

Thank you for answers. Maybe this post will help someone in the future.

SimonJ · 2025-05-22 11:09:48

WorMzy wrote:

pacman-mirrors isn't a command that I'm familiar with, and is not provided by any Arch package. Where did you read about that?

I remembered this command from somewhere : https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Pacman-mirrors

Not related to Arch but it triggered a memory

Last edited by SimonJ (2025-05-22 11:10:22)

Nikolai5 · 2025-05-22 11:12:21

If you are actually trying to install steam and weren't just using that as an example then you should read: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam

One of the first things it mentions in the install section is that you need to enable multilib. You should read the installation steps to ensure you have a good time.

Last edited by Nikolai5 (2025-05-22 11:12:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-05-22 08:17:34

Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#2 2025-05-22 08:54:14

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#3 2025-05-22 09:46:08

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#4 2025-05-22 10:23:30

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#5 2025-05-22 11:06:53

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#6 2025-05-22 11:09:48

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

#7 2025-05-22 11:12:21

Re: Brand new user can't use pacman "Target not found" "Permission denied"

Board footer