(SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

Seacat17 · 2026-06-19 00:54:35

I decided to get into N64 homebrew, to try and implement one idea I had in mind.

There is a FOSS library for this, LibDragon, as well as a still-in-development engine Pyrite64.

When installing LibDragon at Preview branch - you need to compile it from source, and point it to a N64_INST directory. This directory is usually /opt/libdragon/

I decided to go through an easy path and tried to install it from AUR to make updates easier. Big mistake.

PKGBUILD was malformed and pointed N64_INST at /usr/ instead.

I am pretty sure that some files in /usr/include/ got messed up. This caused a lot of trouble for me already.

I did try to fix my own mess. I did try pacman -Qqn | pacman -S - to redownload and reinstall every package in my system. I don't know if that helped much.

How do I restore the system files in Arch Linux and verify that they're now in proper shape?

Last edited by Seacat17 (2026-06-19 16:16:32)

espresso · 2026-06-19 05:53:28

I think pacman should have alerted if files would be overwritten and also if permissions were changed.

Standard uninstall with pacman (or AUR-helper) should remove all of a package's installed files. If it is not available to uninstall, it should be safe to reinstall it so that it can then be fully uninstalled.

To be sure, you can reinstall system packages as you did.

In worse case, some forensics, or restoring from a system backup.

Last edited by espresso (2026-06-19 06:05:17)

seth · 2026-06-19 07:04:22

pacman would not have continued w/ explicitly overwriting each collision… we're pot. looking at an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem here where the OP faces random issues and made up an explanation for it

sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk | grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup

If you've two packages controlling the same files one of them will show deviances.

Seacat17 · 2026-06-19 10:38:02

seth wrote:

pacman would not have continued w/ explicitly overwriting each collision… we're pot. looking at an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem here where the OP faces random issues and made up an explanation for it
sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk | grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup
If you've two packages controlling the same files one of them will show deviances.

Thing is that I removed those packages that caused this mess.

seth · 2026-06-19 10:39:59

The other packages would still show deviances …

Seacat17 · 2026-06-19 15:54:36

seth wrote:

The other packages would still show deviances …

Okay, this gave me an ACTUAL lead to the things that got broken in the process. I need to clean up a few AUR packages.

Seacat17 · 2026-06-19 16:16:20

Okay, Seth, I can now with all confidence say that I have fixed my system! I just needed to uninstall some borked AUR packages, they were the problem in my case.

Thank you <3

Arch Linux

#1 2026-06-19 00:54:35

(SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#2 2026-06-19 05:53:28

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#3 2026-06-19 07:04:22

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#4 2026-06-19 10:38:02

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#5 2026-06-19 10:39:59

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#6 2026-06-19 15:54:36

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

#7 2026-06-19 16:16:20

Re: (SOLVED) Probably messed up some system files - how do I restore them?

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