Arch Linux

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 92

[solved] Libreoffice broken after update

Recently I ran an upgrade through pacman. 'sudo pacman -Syyu' the same as I always do.

One of the things it upgraded was libreoffice. That's nothing unusual. But then I tried to start libreoffice, and it started giving me "command not found: libreoffice" at the zsh prompt. Before this update, libreoffice was working just fine.

run 'whereis libreoffice':

libreoffice: /etc/libreoffice /lib/libreoffice /usr/lib/libreoffice /lib64/libreoffice /usr/lib64/libreoffice /usr/share/man/man1/libreoffice.1.gz

Tried uninstalling and reinstalling libreoffice with pacman (stupid, I know) by running 'sudo pacman -Rnsuv libreoffice':

Root      : /
Conf File : /etc/pacman.conf
DB Path   : /var/lib/pacman/
Cache Dirs: /var/cache/pacman/pkg/  
Lock File : /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
Log File  : /var/log/pacman.log
GPG Dir   : /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
Targets   : libreoffice
error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/libreoffice-common-4.0.1-5/desc: No such file or directory
checking dependencies...

Targets (10): gconf-3.2.6-1  libwpd-0.9.4-1  libwps-0.2.7-1  lpsolve-5.5.2.0-2
              libreoffice-calc-4.0.1-5  libreoffice-draw-4.0.1-5
              libreoffice-gnome-4.0.1-5  libreoffice-impress-4.0.1-5
              libreoffice-math-4.0.1-5  libreoffice-writer-4.0.1-5

Total Removed Size:     47.49 MiB

I went through with it and then reinstalled libreoffice. Pacman reported success, but still gave me that "error: could not open file" line.

I don't have any idea how to fix this. Is anybody else having this problem? Also how can I get it working again? I googled around and searched these forums but didn't come up with anything. If I missed something then even a pointer in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks,
--Scott

Last edited by scott_fakename (2013-03-27 04:12:41)

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

$ pkgfile libreoffice
extra/libreoffice-common

But you also have a nice error in your pacman output...

Last edited by Raynman (2013-03-26 19:09:47)

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 92

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

Sure. I saw the error message. And "pkgfile libreoffice" does indeed give me the same output that it gave you. However, since I seem at this point to have a corrupt pacman database (no matter what I do, it always gives me that same error message), I'm in a bit of a pickle.

I don't consider myself to be expert enough with pacman to go in and start blindly messing with its internals. However, it appears that's what I'll need to do (not blindly, granted). But since I can't think of anything that I *did* to break it, I have no idea what I could to do *fix* it.

So do you have any ideas about what might have gone wrong to cause this?

Thanks,
--Scott

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,354

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

Does /usr/bin/libreoffice exist? Perhaps your hard disc is giving out?

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 92

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

/usr/bin/libreoffice does not exist, but when i try to 'sudo pacman -S libreoffice-common', it downloads the package and then explodes with a slew of errors about files already existing... which leads me to believe that the pacman database is inconsistent.

i did a forcefsck at boot, it thinks the filesystem is fine... havent tried to do an actual thorough scan yet. i doubt it's that but i'll check it out.

i have a sinking suspicion that i may have forgotten that i was updating it and then shut it down in the middle of that... i hope that's not the case. the more i look at it the more that's what it seems like.

anonymous_user

Member

Registered: 2009-08-28

Posts: 3,059

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

Well in case it is a problem with the database:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … l_database

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 92

Re: [solved] Libreoffice broken after update

Thanks everyone. testdb showed that there were missing files. Pacman thought libreoffice was NOT installed, but I couldn't reinstall it because it in fact was still in my system (so pacman said "file exists!" and crapped out). Reinstalled with --force. Now everything seems okay.

Thanks again.
--Scott

Last edited by scott_fakename (2013-03-27 04:18:48)