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#1 2004-10-06 01:04:49

potentials
Member
Registered: 2004-01-04
Posts: 130

error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Here's what I got trying to update after several weeks of not updating.

Total Package Size:   365.8 MB

Proceed with upgrade? [Y/n] y

:: Retrieving packages from current...
error running XferCommand: fork failed!
error: failed to retrieve some files from current

:: Retrieving packages from extra...
error running XferCommand: fork failed!
error: failed to retrieve some files from extra

Commenting the XferCommand line in pacman.conf prevents this error but pacman's internal downloader hangs at 99%. Happens with ALOT of the big packages.

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#2 2004-10-07 06:30:37

apeiro
Daddy
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-12
Posts: 771
Website

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

What's your /etc/pacman.conf look like?

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#3 2004-10-07 14:04:59

potentials
Member
Registered: 2004-01-04
Posts: 130

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Just the default pacman.conf with the XferCommand line uncommented

#
# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# NOTE: If you find a mirror that is geographically close to you, please
#       move it to the top of the server list, so pacman will choose it
#       first.
#
# To re-sort your mirror lists by ping/traceroute results, use the
# /usr/bin/sortmirrors.pl script.  It requires the "netselect" package.
#
#     # sortmirrors.pl </etc/pacman.conf >pacman.conf.new
#

# See the pacman manpage for option directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
NoUpgrade   = etc/passwd etc/group etc/shadow etc/sudoers
NoUpgrade   = etc/fstab etc/raidtab etc/ld.so.conf
NoUpgrade   = etc/rc.conf etc/rc.local
NoUpgrade   = etc/modprobe.conf etc/modules.conf
NoUpgrade   = etc/lilo.conf boot/grub/menu.lst
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here.
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#

#[testing]
#Server = ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/testing/os/i686

[current]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/current

[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/extra

#Include = /etc/pacman.d/unstable

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

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#4 2004-10-07 17:10:29

apeiro
Daddy
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-12
Posts: 771
Website

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Hmm, okay.  Try running an update with the -v switch, see if it gives any hints.

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#5 2004-10-07 17:11:48

apeiro
Daddy
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-12
Posts: 771
Website

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Silly question, maybe... but you do have the wget package installed, right?

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#6 2004-10-08 00:14:24

potentials
Member
Registered: 2004-01-04
Posts: 130

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

No hints from verbose switch

running command: /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O gnome-common-2.8.0-1.pkg.tar.gz.part ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/sunsite.unc-mirror/distributions/archlinux/extra/os/i686/gnome-common-2.8.0-1.pkg.tar.gz
error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Tried manually downloading the concerned package to /var/cache/pacman/pkg and re-run pacman, but I get the same error with the next package.
And yes, wget package is installed and the previous wget command (with same options and arguments) runs just fine manually.

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#7 2004-10-11 18:45:02

potentials
Member
Registered: 2004-01-04
Posts: 130

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Updated most of the packages manually and now I don't get the error when update the rest. I had the same error months ago and was solved by the same method. The thing is that pacman hangs at 99% which is a well known bug. What's new is that when I use wget instead of the internal downloader, wget also hangs at 99%

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#8 2004-10-11 19:58:29

lanrat
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2003-10-28
Posts: 1,274

Re: error running XferCommand: fork failed!

Are you sure that everything is ok with your network/provider?

If it is then maybe it's a problem with your mirror?
I have problems with some mirrors. Looks like this is related to number of allowed ftp connections from one ip. Server "thinks" the previous connection is not closed and gives error. This happens to me with some mirrors while with some others (and wget) it works without any problems.

Also to prevent 99% download with wget you can add other options for example -t 0 -T 10 (t - number of retires, 0 is unlimited, T is timeout in seconds) - this makes wget almost bulletproof :-)

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