[SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

dracofrancis · 2019-03-24 19:40:46

Hi All,

firstly thank you very much for your help over the past weeks, while I am doing my first steps with Arch.

My problem: Pacman seems to not find some targets (packages) although it is certain they exist. For instance I can find firefox or ranger but I cannot get mc(midnight commander), isync, offlineimap and many others.

As you will see bellow I update before any attempt to install anything. I am a bit confused because I cant get my head around it.

So, this is the problem copied from the terminal:

~ $ pacman -Syy
:: Synchronising package databases...
 core                                                                                                                                                                133.7 KiB  1671K/s 00:00 [#######################################################################################################################] 100%
 extra                                                                                                                                                              1696.9 KiB  3.60M/s 00:00 [#######################################################################################################################] 100%
 multilib                                                                                                                                                            174.8 KiB  4.27M/s 00:00 [#######################################################################################################################] 100%
~ $ pacman -Syu
:: Synchronising package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
 there is nothing to do
~ $ 
~ $ 
~ $ pacman -S firefox
warning: firefox-66.0.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) firefox-66.0.1-1

Total Installed Size:  180.72 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:        0.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n
~ $ 
~ $ pacman -S isync
error: target not found: isync
~ $ pacman -S offlineimap
error: target not found: offlineimap
~ $ pacman -S mc
error: target not found: mc
~ $ pacman -S surf
error: target not found: surf

I also updated my mirrorlist yesterday and it looks like this:

##
## Arch Linux repository mirrorlist
## Generated on 2019-03-24
##

## United Kingdom
Server = http://archlinux.uk.mirror.allworldit.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://archlinux.uk.mirror.allworldit.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.manchester.m247.com/arch-linux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.netweaver.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.netweaver.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://arch.serverspace.co.uk/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://archlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/archlinux.org/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/archlinux.org/$repo/os/$arch

FYI, this is my /etc/pacman.conf

...
#{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

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

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

Do you have any ideas about what is going on?

Thanks for your help in advance

Last edited by dracofrancis (2019-03-24 19:49:41)

jasonwryan · 2019-03-24 19:42:24

Your conf is broken. You have subsituted curly braces for brackets in the enabled repos.

And you don't have [community] enabled...

Trilby · 2019-03-24 19:47:41

And you've commented out the community repo where the packages you are looking for are found.

Surprisingly, pacman seems to have been okay with the curly braces (though I'm skeptical, and suspect it was an error posting it to the forum) but as you can see in your own pacman output, it has not synced the community repo.

dracofrancis · 2019-03-24 19:49:05

embarrassing.. problem solved! thanks for you help

Trilby · 2019-03-24 19:51:04

Also note you should never do a `pacman -Sy` or `pacman -Syy`.

In the present example it was harmless as you followed it by a proper update, but it serves no purpose in this case, and in other cases, it could cause severe problems. So just don't ever do it.

Also avoid the double 'y' flags unless you know exactly why you are using them. That will not harm your system, but it is a pointless drain on the mirrors.

Arch Linux

#1 2019-03-24 19:40:46

[SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

#2 2019-03-24 19:42:24

Re: [SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

#3 2019-03-24 19:47:41

Re: [SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

#4 2019-03-24 19:49:05

Re: [SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

#5 2019-03-24 19:51:04

Re: [SOLVED} pacman not finding some targets

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