Arch Linux

blodorn

Member

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 29

[FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

I was moving .pacnew files and was just making the changes to the new files and then moving them to the old files and neglecting to back anything up. I believe I did something wrong with my /etc/group file and now everything is broken. I am getting "Error getting authority" when I try to connect to wifi, reboot, shutdown, etc. I think what happened is I had/was a member of some groups in my old file that I did not put into the new file. That or I updated using pacman -Syu and something broke unrelated to me moving files.

Last edited by blodorn (2015-05-17 15:27:11)

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

Re: [FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

Sometimes a simple search on these forums will answer all.  See: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=166521

Last edited by bgc1954 (2015-05-17 14:48:28)

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: [FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

You may have a backup called "/etc/group-".

Can you actually boot up and login?  If not boot from a cd.

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All men have stood for freedom...
For freedom is the man that will turn the world upside down.
Gerrard Winstanley.

blodorn

Member

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 29

Re: [FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

I can boot up and login. In searching forums I see this maybe due to something with systemd update, not with my group file. I try to downgrade systemd with pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/systemd-219-5-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz and I get same error:
"Error getting authority: Error initializing authority: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1: Timeout was reached (g-io-error-quark, 24)"

I had initially seen the problem when trying to connect to the internet and netctl failed though I was able to reinstall that with pacman -U without issue.

systemctl shows

* polkit.service  loaded failed failed
* shadow.service  loaded failed failed
* systemd-tmpfiles-clean.serive  loaded failed failed
* systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service  loaded failed failed

It looks like I don't have a polkitd group might be a factor

Last edited by blodorn (2015-05-17 15:12:40)

loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: [FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

Is there a difference between /etc/group and /etc/group- since you made the changes.  Are there any groups missing which should be present.  At least by checking you may be able to eliminate /etc/group as the cause.

edit:  if the groups are missing restore /etc/group- (assuming it is present and correct).

Last edited by loafer (2015-05-17 15:14:20)

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All men have stood for freedom...
For freedom is the man that will turn the world upside down.
Gerrard Winstanley.

blodorn

Member

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 29

Re: [FIXED] overwrote /etc/group or pacman -Syu and broke everything

/etc/group- also was incorrect. I reinstalled the polkit package and verified that the polkitd user and group where there and everything works fine now after reboot. Thank you for the help.

Last edited by blodorn (2015-05-17 15:26:59)