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#1 2011-12-21 03:43:24

tokoro
Member
From: Mexico City
Registered: 2011-11-30
Posts: 51

[Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

First of all I want to say hello, it's my first post here. cool

Well, I tried to update my system with pacman -Syu and I got this error.

[diego@snow ~]$ sudo pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (6): bluez-4.96-3  filesystem-2011.12-2  glibc-2.14.1-4
             libldap-2.4.28-1  liboauth-0.9.6-1  xorg-xinit-1.3.1-2

Total Download Size:    0.00 MB
Total Installed Size:   36.11 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
(6/6) checking package integrity                   [######################] 100%
(6/6) checking for file conflicts                  [######################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

I already searched for this and I found out that this is common when using the testing repository, but I'm not using it.
Should i delete /etc/mtab? I also tried to reboot a couple of times and nothing changed.

I can still install new packages.

Last edited by tokoro (2011-12-21 03:47:53)


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#2 2011-12-21 03:45:06

jasonwryan
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From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Read the news on the front page...


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#3 2011-12-21 03:47:24

tokoro
Member
From: Mexico City
Registered: 2011-11-30
Posts: 51

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

jasonwryan wrote:

Read the news on the front page...

Well, that was easy smile

When upgrading to filesystem-2011.12 there will be a conflict with /etc/mtab.

Install the package as follows:

pacman -S filesystem --force

It is strongly advised to avoid the --force or -f switch as it is not safe. However, in this particular case it is needed as deleting /etc/mtab manually would break pacman.

The reason for the conflict is that the file used to be generated at boot and hence not owned by any package. Now it is a symlink to /proc/self/mounts owned by filesystem. This change means that initscripts no longer requires write access to the rootfs (though other packages might).

Last edited by tokoro (2011-12-21 03:50:21)


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#4 2011-12-21 03:49:52

TheHebes
Member
From: New England
Registered: 2011-07-07
Posts: 138

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Ummm.... Probably a very bad idea to straight-up delete mtab. If you really must, try renaming it to mtab.old or something like that. Just make sure that nothing important (external disks and the like) is mounted. If the system fails to boot, you can chroot to it and put things back how they were. Also, I believe that update requires a force...

*Edit*
Beat to the post. Oops.

Last edited by TheHebes (2011-12-21 03:52:14)


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#5 2011-12-22 16:05:14

hammerlock13
Member
Registered: 2011-12-22
Posts: 1

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Uh.. Please do not delete mtab... this would be very bad... using the --force option while updating filesystem worked fine for me.. as it will for anyone else...

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#6 2011-12-23 15:36:45

gomex
Member
Registered: 2011-12-23
Posts: 1

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Great! It works for me too. Thanks!

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#7 2011-12-28 15:44:28

Spudgun
Member
Registered: 2008-09-09
Posts: 12

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Hey folks,
I actually went ahead an deleted /etc/mtab before noticing the announcement, oops... I've yet to experience any problems though, but is there something I could do to restore the file??

Edit: I see that the file is still there somehow, and that /etc/mtab points to '/proc/self/mounts', is this normal?

Last edited by Spudgun (2011-12-28 15:45:45)

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#8 2011-12-28 16:47:10

TheHebes
Member
From: New England
Registered: 2011-07-07
Posts: 138

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

@Spudgun: I believe that that was the part of the purpose of the update to filesystem. It's normal. smile


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#9 2011-12-29 09:14:38

Spudgun
Member
Registered: 2008-09-09
Posts: 12

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Great, thanks TheHebes!

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#10 2012-01-10 00:57:49

vai
Member
Registered: 2012-01-05
Posts: 11

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

I've done pacman -S filesystem --force and reboot
Now I can't connect to network.
I had wired network before
Can someone help me?

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#11 2012-01-10 01:10:50

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

vai wrote:

I've done pacman -S filesystem --force and reboot
Now I can't connect to network.
I had wired network before
Can someone help me?

Unrelated problem, start your own thread please. With more information than that.


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#12 2012-01-10 01:11:32

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

Please don't hijack threads.

Open your own thread about your issue, and please include more details about your network setup and what, if any, errors are in your logs, etc...


# edit: damn, beaten by ngoonee again...

Last edited by jasonwryan (2012-01-10 01:12:24)


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#13 2012-03-10 22:53:12

jonathanbrickman0000
Member
Registered: 2007-06-01
Posts: 4

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

This problem happened to me at first update of a newly installed Arch.  I first deleted /etc/mtab, but then 'pacman -Sy filesystem --force' didn't work, it said it could not determine free space.  So then based on Spudgun's input, I did a 'cp /proc/self/mounts /etc/mtab', and tried the pacman command again, and all is going well.

J.E.B.

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#14 2012-03-10 23:00:56

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

jonathanbrickman0000 wrote:

I first deleted /etc/mtab, but then 'pacman -Sy filesystem --force' didn't work

http://www.archlinux.org/news/filesyste … -required/ says

Install the package as follows:

pacman -S filesystem --force

It is strongly advised to avoid the --force or -f switch as it is not safe. However, in this particular case it is needed as deleting /etc/mtab manually would break pacman.

(emphasis mine)
Please read before upgrading.

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#15 2012-03-11 00:01:10

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,744

Re: [Solved] Pacman "filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem"

I think this thread has run it's course.  Closing.

If this problem should resurface, open a new thread and link back to this one.

Thanks


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