[solved]Invalid or corrupted database PGP signature during archinstall

cjdx · 2026-02-13 20:06:13

I boot with my boot media, set time zone with 'timedatectl set-timezone [zone]', then connect to wifi with the iwctl util and confirm by pinging ping.archlinux.org.

Following this I run the default archinstall and go through with my configuration. After putting in my configuration and moving to install it fails at this line:

Sorting your selected mirror lised based on the speed between you and the individual mirrors (this might take a while)
core  [###########] 100%
extra [###########] 100%
error: GPGME error: No datage database: ['/usr/bin/pacman', '-Syy'] exited with abnormal exit code [1]:
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (invalid or corrupted database (PGP signature))

note: I could not figure out how to get the log from the laptop to my desktop so yeah I typed this out. yes I saw the curl command in the debug

If I try to run the archinstall again, it fails immediately and points to the log at `/var/log/archinstall/install.log`, which when tail'd shows the same error as above.
Things I have already tried:

Verify my ISO integrity with the sha hash (flashed to media with balena etcher)
Refreshing my keyrings
Any number of guides online, including various from this section of the forum. None seemed to work, but this was my favourite that describes my exact issue: https://vadosware.io/post/fixing-gpgme-error-on-arch/. Through ps aux I can find services running that seem to be using the /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/ directory that I cannot kill to try and regenerate it at any point in the installation process. I predict that this is a quirk of being in install and not being in a full system, but I can only make an educated guess.
Running lots of different flags on pacman and pacman-keys from forums where people said they found fixes

Extra info: I am installing arch on my shiny new framework 13 (ryzen ai 300 7 cpu, which is x86), but I can decently verify that everything is in working order as I got through the Mint live install all the way up to actually installing it, and the live OS worked perfectly. I have been using arch on my desktop for ages and haven't had an issue I couldn't solve myself so far, so I'm a bit new here but am excited to interact with community. I read lots of forum posts before coming here but do let me know if I missed something obvious.
Thanks you very much for your time!

Last edited by cjdx (2026-02-13 22:35:08)

seth · 2026-02-13 20:23:47

Sorting your selected mirror lised based on the speed between you and the individual mirrors (this might take a while)
error: GPGME error: No datage database: ['/usr/bin/pacman', '-Syy'] exited with abnormal exit code [1]:
error: GPGME error: No data

Please don't manually transcribe things, see the first link below and as absolute last resort link screenshots.
And don't run "pacman -Syy"

Any number of guides online, including various from this section of the forum.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide

=> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=269748
There's most likely some bogus stuff in there, probably an html file because you need to enter credentials in some captive portal first?

WorMzy · 2026-02-13 21:45:45

Mod note: moving to archinstall subforum.

cjdx · 2026-02-13 22:34:51

Thanks for the advice, specifically showing me a forum post I had not seen before. I went back to the install to follow those steps but first installed a random package, neovim, and changed my mirrors from US to Worldwide and the installation worked flawlessly. Maybe I got lucky, maybe pacman just needed some love.

I appreciate the response and I'm glad to learn.

Arch Linux

#1 2026-02-13 20:06:13

[solved]Invalid or corrupted database PGP signature during archinstall

#2 2026-02-13 20:23:47

Re: [solved]Invalid or corrupted database PGP signature during archinstall

#3 2026-02-13 21:45:45

Re: [solved]Invalid or corrupted database PGP signature during archinstall

#4 2026-02-13 22:34:51

Re: [solved]Invalid or corrupted database PGP signature during archinstall

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