Arch Linux

mark-o-solo

Member

Registered: 2012-03-19

Posts: 77

yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Hi,
it seems Ive broken my yaourt somehow. I get the following message twice when I try to install something with yaourt:

failed to initialize alpm library (could not find or read directory)

Ive tried reinstalling yaourt and package-query as well as their git versions but with no success.

sudo yaourt -Syu -aur

gives:

failed to initialize alpm library (could not find or read directory)
error: failed to initialise alpm library
(could not find or read directory: /var/lib/pacman/)

Thanks in advance for any help

Last edited by mark-o-solo (2018-08-29 08:46:52)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,435

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Define reinstalling yaourt and package-query, did you rebuild them properly or did you install a precompiled package from somewhere? FWIW what are the ouputs of

pacman -Q pacman
pacman -Qkk pacman
strace yaourt -Syu -aur #Install strace from the repos if you don't have it already

in [ code ] and not [ quote ] tags.

Last edited by V1del (2018-08-24 14:44:25)

mark-o-solo

Member

Registered: 2012-03-19

Posts: 77

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Hi,
I reinstalled yaourt and package-query by git cloning the packages and installing via makepkg -cis and pacman -U.

sudo pacman -Q pacman
pacman 5.1.1-1

sudo pacman -Qkk pacman
backup file: pacman: /etc/makepkg.conf (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: pacman: /etc/makepkg.conf (Size mismatch)
backup file: pacman: /etc/pacman.conf (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: pacman: /etc/pacman.conf (Size mismatch)
pacman: 343 total files, 0 altered files

The strace command is pasted below due to its length
https://pastebin.com/7UWLAJZq

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,113

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Hi,
I reinstalled yaourt and package-query by git cloning the packages and installing via makepkg -cis and pacman -U.

What about the one in /usr/local/bin ?

access("/usr/local/bin/package-query", R_OK) = 0

Edit:
Redacted as it is causing a thread to go off topic / hijack

Last edited by loqs (2018-08-26 09:26:20)

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,673

Website

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

failed to initialize alpm library (could not find or read directory)
error: failed to initialise alpm library
(could not find or read directory: /var/lib/pacman/)

That should give a hint where to look...

---

PGP Key: F99FFE0FEAE999BD | I develop pacman - buy me a drink!

FloydLacey

Member

Registered: 2017-11-06

Posts: 6

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Hi,
I reinstalled yaourt and package-query by git cloning the packages and installing via makepkg -cis and pacman -U.

What about the one in /usr/local/bin ?

access("/usr/local/bin/package-query", R_OK) = 0

Isn't "yay" the new alternative cause yaourt was discontinued?

Your source that it has been discontinued is?

According to the wiki yaourt is considered as "Discontinued or problematic"

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AU … roblematic

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,435

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

There was already a large excerpt binned, please refrain from derailing this thread with technicalities. There is a problem that could be solved, regardless of how recommended of a helper yaourt is or not.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,113

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

@V1del / @JasonWRyan sorry for responding to the hijack I redacted by original response due to all the issues it is causing.

mark-o-solo

Member

Registered: 2012-03-19

Posts: 77

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

failed to initialize alpm library (could not find or read directory)
error: failed to initialise alpm library
(could not find or read directory: /var/lib/pacman/)

That should give a hint where to look...

It seems like yaourt has some problems with permissions maybe ? /var/lib/pacman is definitely there, somehow its not finding it, Im kinda at a loss here...

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,113

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

What is the output of `stat /var/lib/pacman`

mark-o-solo

Member

Registered: 2012-03-19

Posts: 77

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

What is the output of `stat /var/lib/pacman`

  File: /var/lib/pacman
  Size: 4096      	Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   directory
Device: 10305h/66309d	Inode: 32575       Links: 4
Access: (0755/drwxr-xr-x)  Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2018-08-26 20:46:26.489972402 +0200
Modify: 2018-08-26 21:25:57.849945417 +0200
Change: 2018-08-26 21:25:57.849945417 +0200
 Birth: -

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,113

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

The outputs of the following

/usr/bin/package-query -l
/usr/local/bin/package-query -l

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

The outputs of the following

/usr/bin/package-query -l
/usr/local/bin/package-query -l

Well, with that train of thought regarding potential causes, I'd ask for

type -a package-query

---

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

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Please also post your full pacman.log

---

Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

mark-o-solo

Member

Registered: 2012-03-19

Posts: 77

Re: yaourt broken (alpm library) [SOLVED]

Hello everyone,
Im currently between conferences and have too little time to fix the issues.
Nevertheless I found my solution in replacing yaourt with yay as suggested https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AU … roblematic, thanks for pointing out the problematics of yourt.
Cheers