Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

seanr7 · 2015-07-02 20:24:38

Hey guys,

I've had this issue for a few weeks on my work laptop, but I haven't had free time to actually investigate the cause until this upcoming July 4th weekend and have been forced to use other OSes.

Basically, on this system, pacman will not update. During an update, the system completely locked up and after rebooting and attempting the update again, I started getting errors in the format of:
package-name: /path/to/file exists in filesystem

The packages that are apparently affected by this are systemd-sysvcompat, xorg-server-common and xorg-server. I have been unable to complete an update since these issues started happening.

To complicate matters, I use pf-kernel on this system and I believe the most recent update I got for that kernel from the unofficial repo according to instructions on the wiki is 4.0.4-pf. I think the install of that particular version, at least on my system, was botched as since I installed it the frequent lock ups started happening that may have caused the original update problem. I still have the basic Arch kernel installed as well, but that kernel doesn't even boot with the system in this state.

Does anyone have any tips for saving this system? I really love the way I have it set up and would prefer not to spend my entire weekend reinstalling packages. I haven't been keeping full system backups of this machine since all my work is kept in an svn repo anyway. I won't lose any work, but most people know, losing your system config when you've got it set up perfectly is one of the most painful computing experiences one can have.

If I put this in the wrong forum and it needs to be moved, I apologize in advance.

Thanks for any help,
Sean

Trilby · 2015-07-02 20:28:10

seanr7 wrote:

again, I started getting errors in the format of:
package-name: /path/to/file exists in filesystem

Read the wiki

seanr7 wrote:

I still have the basic Arch kernel installed as well, but that kernel doesn't even boot with the system in this state.

What do you mean? Why not? What errors do you get? Post the output here.

seanr7 · 2015-07-02 20:46:15

My apologies for not trying that section of the wiki article. I'll try that soon and report back if it doesn't fix it.

As far as the error booting stock kernel is:

Loading Linux linux
error: premature end of file /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Loading init ramdisk
error: you need to load the kernel first

If memory serves, a stock kernel update was in the list of packages when the system locked during the update that caused these issues.

Trilby · 2015-07-02 21:05:21

So far there doesn't sound like there is anything that should be difficult at all to solve. If you can boot into the pf kernel, follow the wiki and you'll be all set. If you can't boot at all, you may need to use a live cd/usb to chroot in, then finish the upgrade and you'll be all set.

tomsargeaunt · 2015-07-02 23:06:55

Hi Sean,

It sounds like I've been getting exactly the same issue here. It started about 2 months ago.

pacman -Syu

The update freezes at the systemd package and the whole system freezes and is completely unresponsive. When I reboot, there were several errors with systemd starting certain daemons (e.g. NetworkManager) and trying to complete the update after the reboot, I get the warning:

package-name: /path/to/file exists in filesystem

Removing the existing file seems to allow pacman to successfully update but I'd be interested to find out what is happening here. I've been using arch for years and nothing has changed in my set-up/usage lately.

I wish I could post some kind of output, but it has only happened twice and I my first thought was getting the system back up and running.

P.S I don't know If it is relevant, but I'm also not using the stock kernel. (linux-ck)

seanr7 · 2015-07-03 12:55:23

Hey Tom,

Yes, mine happened around the same time. I lost track of time because I was a little bogged down at work. I'm not exactly sure if it was the systemd package that it froze on, but it may have been. Since that update, I had to disable my display manager in order to get to boot, otherwise systemd just had it in an attempt to start -> failure -> attempt to start loop. I've also had to start NetworkManager manually each time I've needed it since this happened, so we may have encountered the same problem.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-07-02 20:24:38

Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

#2 2015-07-02 20:28:10

Re: Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

#3 2015-07-02 20:46:15

Re: Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

#4 2015-07-02 21:05:21

Re: Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

#5 2015-07-02 23:06:55

Re: Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

#6 2015-07-03 12:55:23

Re: Pacman update issue / can this system be saved?

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