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#1 2017-06-29 16:31:40

rich_c
Member
Registered: 2016-08-21
Posts: 7

[SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

Good afternoon, everyone!

I'm getting an error message when I run `sudo pacman -Syu` that looks like this:

error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/sync/multilib.db: Unrecognized archive format

This happens for multilib, extra, core, and community.  I'm reading more on the Arch Linux homepage right now, and using "Mr. Wizard" to see if there's something out there that I missed, but I wanted to see if anyone else has seen this error message recently.  I will update if I find anything relevant.

My `pacman.conf` is below:

  GNU nano 2.8.5                     File: /etc/pacman.conf                     Modified  

# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
#GPGDir      = /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
#HookDir     = /etc/pacman.d/hooks/
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl -C - -f %u > %o
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#CleanMethod = KeepInstalled
#UseDelta    = 0.7
Architecture = auto

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg   = wpa_supplicant
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
#NoExtract   =

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
#Color
#TotalDownload
CheckSpace

#Color
#TotalDownload
CheckSpace
VerbosePkgLists

# By default, pacman accepts packages signed by keys that its local keyring
# trusts (see pacman-key and its man page), as well as unsigned packages.
SigLevel    = Required DatabaseOptional
LocalFileSigLevel = Optional
#RemoteFileSigLevel = Required

# NOTE: You must run `pacman-key --init` before first using pacman; the local
# keyring can then be populated with the keys of all official Arch Linux
# packagers with `pacman-key --populate archlinux`.

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#   - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages
#     have identical names, regardless of version number
#   - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
#   - URLs will have $arch replaced by the name of the architecture
# 
# Repository entries are of the format:
#       [repo-name]
#       Server = ServerName
#       Include = IncludePath
#
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
#

# The testing repositories are disabled by default. To enable, uncomment the
# repo name header and Include lines. You can add preferred servers immediately
# after the header, and they will be used before the default mirrors.

#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# If you want to run 32 bit applications on your x86_64 system,
# enable the multilib repositories as required here.

#[multilib-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

Last edited by rich_c (2017-06-29 16:45:37)

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#2 2017-06-29 16:44:42

rich_c
Member
Registered: 2016-08-21
Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

Solved. 

Found this older thread with similar issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=135310

Resolution:

sudo rm -R /var/lib/pacman/sync
sudo pacman -Syu   (!!!Note!!!  -f is not longer a valid option)

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#3 2017-06-29 18:42:37

twelveeighty
Member
From: Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2011-09-04
Posts: 1,096

Re: [SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

rich_c wrote:

(!!!Note!!!  -f is not longer a valid option)

I believe that was the old "force" flag, which is now --force, but you shouldn't be using that flag anyway.

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#4 2017-06-29 18:52:19

rich_c
Member
Registered: 2016-08-21
Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

twelveeighty wrote:
rich_c wrote:

(!!!Note!!!  -f is not longer a valid option)

I believe that was the old "force" flag, which is now --force, but you shouldn't be using that flag anyway.

I didn't know that about -f... although, I should have been able to figure that out.  Regardless, things are working properly now.  I'm just curious why this occured in the first place.

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#5 2017-06-29 19:33:25

hoerbert
Member
Registered: 2013-04-03
Posts: 87

Re: [SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

rich_c wrote:

I'm just curious why this occured in the first place.

Since this was solved by simply deleting the package database it is likely, that your mirror had a little hick-up so pacman downloaded rubbish (probably html-error-pages) as the package databases. So it is likely, that a pacman -Syyu also could have solved your issue (which would force-download new databases).

But this is just a guess since we don't know how exactly your .db-files looked.

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#6 2017-06-30 00:10:08

eschwartz
Fellow
Registered: 2014-08-08
Posts: 4,097

Re: [SOLVED] Error Message Running `pacman -Syu`

Or alternatively, you tried syncing the databases while caught behind the captive portal for some public WiFi service.

And yes, this is the #1 reason why `pacman -Syyu` exists.


Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

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