Arch Linux

vinoman2

Member

From: Portland Oregon

Registered: 2009-05-21

Posts: 236

Website

Pacman won't work [Solved]

Trying to run pacman -Syu I get this error:

[davek@arch64 ~]$ su
Password:
[root@arch64 davek]# pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)
  if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
[root@arch64 davek]#

What is this? That pacman/db.lck file is emtpy.  How do I correct this problem?

Last edited by vinoman2 (2009-08-12 02:45:14)

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,390

Website

Re: Pacman won't work [Solved]

What is this? That pacman/db.lck file is emtpy.  How do I correct this problem?

if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

---

PGP Key: F99FFE0FEAE999BD

Skripka

Member

From: 2X1280X1024

Registered: 2009-02-19

Posts: 555

Re: Pacman won't work [Solved]

Trying to run pacman -Syu I get this error:

[davek@arch64 ~]$ su
Password:
[root@arch64 davek]# pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)
  if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
[root@arch64 davek]#

What is this? That pacman/db.lck file is emtpy.  How do I correct this problem?

What it means is that there was a prior instance of Pacman, which is either still running or one that did not finish--leaving a lock (db.lck) on the Pacman database.  This is intended as a safety measure, as strange things can happen if there is actually more than one instance of Pacman running at one time.

To get your pacman back, all you have to do is remove the lock:

sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

vinoman2

Member

From: Portland Oregon

Registered: 2009-05-21

Posts: 236

Website

Re: Pacman won't work [Solved]

What is this? That pacman/db.lck file is emtpy.  How do I correct this problem?

if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

Thanks, I though deleting the contents was enough. Once I deleted the file, all is well.

[Solved]