Pacman is broken...

ibendiben · 2008-03-03 16:45:40

knifemonkey wrote:

Finally I find the -c switch, the 'clean' switch. I use it as the clean switch says it removes junk. And naturally one assumes resets the basic configuration or whatever you know, cleans it self up like apt-get, yum or any other package management program with a clean switch. It asks me some questions, I say yes, yes yes because all of the questions where related to pacman and naturally, I assume it knows what it is doing. Now pacman is screwed your telling me, so my operating system is screwed and I have to re-install everything to have essential package

What do you mean? Who's telling you pacman is screwed up? What happened?

knifemonkey · 2008-03-03 20:16:06

thanks for your replies people, i had a look at pacman.log but it doesnt show any of the errors.
sorry to be vague guess i was too testy yesterday because something was wrong but, i apologise... it's hard to say any operating system is perfect, and if there was a perfect operating system there wouldnt be a point in upgrades because well, it's got -everything- coverd. hopefully i can help solve this issue?
from memory, pacman was trying to install packages before glibc which was a dependency, and came up with an error stating that. then, when i try to install a package using pacman -S Syu, it would try to install a number of packages which where already installed and at their latest versions. fsck, deleted a small number of inodes. pacman would keep coming up with these files even if i installed them, and the error about glibc kept coming up. then it refused to install anything, probably after i hit the -c switch. (C should stand for Combust Pacman). honestly though I love arch linux that's why it hurts so much, what's wrong with apt-get?!
i've also noticed wierd behavour in firefox since then, could be unrelated.
anyway, i'm installing freebsd for now, i've gone through debian, slackware, opensuse, fedora, dsl, ubuntu, pclinuxos, puppy, zenwalk, vector, slax, sabayon, mandriva, and even beosmax, haiku, amiga, qnx, minuetos and dozens more operating systems, testing, playing, administrating and troubleshooting every one of them. I have to say, Arch is the best i've used so far for 2 reasons: Speed, Configurability
when FreeBSD fails to staisfy my needs <omg i sound like my old girlfriend> i'll come back and try to avoid/solve this pacman issue.
peace

knifemonkey · 2008-03-03 20:18:40

did i mention that pacman froze and i had to close it with kill? <i waited a long time>
this was before it broke, probably related.

knifemonkey · 2008-03-03 20:21:54

first ima play some quake darkplaces before i nuke everything

ibendiben · 2008-03-03 23:10:28

Next time these pacman uses can come in handy:

pacman -Scc #to remove all cache, and database files... in case of corruption.
-c, --clean
Remove packages that are no longer installed from the cache as well as currently unused sync
databases to free up disk space. When pacman downloads packages, it saves them in a cache directory.
In addition, databases are saved for every sync DB you download from, and are not deleted even if
they are removed from the configuration file pacman.conf(5). Use one --clean switch to only remove
packages that are no longer installed; use two to remove all packages from the cache. In both cases,
you will have a yes or no option to remove packages and/or unused downloaded databases.
pacman -Syy #to refresh whole your database, not only outdated packages...
-y, --refresh
Download a fresh copy of the master package list from the server(s) defined in pacman.conf(5). This
should typically be used each time you use --sysupgrade or -u. Passing two --refresh or -y flags
will force a refresh of all package lists even if they are thought to be up to date.
pacman -Sf #to install packages by force, when pacman has lost track of them, or other breakage...
-f, --force
Bypass file conflict checks and overwrite conflicting files. If the package that is about to be
installed contains files that are already installed, this option will cause all those files to be
overwritten. This option should be used with care, ideally not at all.

When installing/updating important files it might be a smart idea to install them separately, also be sure you always read all install messages carefully!
I hope next time you'll be a little more patient, and polite, and a bit more thankful for Arch, and people that try to help you...

--Ben

Arch Linux

#26 2008-03-03 16:45:40

Re: Pacman is broken...

#27 2008-03-03 20:16:06

Re: Pacman is broken...

#28 2008-03-03 20:18:40

Re: Pacman is broken...

#29 2008-03-03 20:21:54

Re: Pacman is broken...

#30 2008-03-03 23:10:28

Re: Pacman is broken...

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