[SOLVED] makepkg fails with failed to initialize alpm library

shermixx · 2019-05-14 22:09:54

When trying to build an install a package from AUR, makepkg fails.

$ makepkg
==> Making package: yay 9.2.0-1 (Tue May 14 14:45:42 2019)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
error: failed to initialize alpm library
(could not open database: /var/lib/pacman/)
==> ERROR: 'pacman' returned a fatal error (255):

This happens with all the packages I have tried to build.

I'm having no issues with pacman directly. I ran pacman -Tv and verified that all the listed directories exist (including /var/lib/pacman).

Last edited by shermixx (2019-05-15 15:25:21)

Zod · 2019-05-15 01:34:58

Could be a permissions issue with the pacman db?

When you run a system update do you use sudo?

Anyway, have a look at this
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=208597

shermixx · 2019-05-15 02:02:25

When you run a system update do you use sudo?

Ha! Fair question and the answer is yes.

Something told me it was a permission issue but everywhere I had checked looked fine. There were several warnings during the install complaining of directory permissions not matching the package but I tracked those down with pacman -Qkk and fixed them. I thought.

sudo chmod 644 /var/lib/pacman/local/ALPM_DB_VERSION

And all's well.

Thanks for your help!

WorMzy · 2019-05-15 07:08:18

Please remember to mark your thread as solved by editing the first post and amending the topic title.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … ow_to_post

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#1 2019-05-14 22:09:54

[SOLVED] makepkg fails with failed to initialize alpm library

#2 2019-05-15 01:34:58

Re: [SOLVED] makepkg fails with failed to initialize alpm library

#3 2019-05-15 02:02:25

Re: [SOLVED] makepkg fails with failed to initialize alpm library

#4 2019-05-15 07:08:18

Re: [SOLVED] makepkg fails with failed to initialize alpm library

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