Arch Linux

Lockheed

Member

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 1,542

[solved] pacman calls out weird error

I just installed a fresh Arch on a headless server, using linux-lts instead of linux during pacstrap phase (not sure if that's related to the issue).

Anyway, now upon every update or package install, pacman throws out this error:

# pacman -S mc
warning: mc-4.8.29-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/linux-api-headers-6.3-1/desc: No such file or directory
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) mc-4.8.29-2

Total Download Size:   1.81 MiB
Total Installed Size:  6.96 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] 
:: Retrieving packages...
 mc-4.8.29-2-x86_64                                                                                                         1849.3 KiB  6.38 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                                                                                           [##############################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                                                                                         [##############################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                                                                              [##############################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                                                                                        [##############################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                                                                                                      [##############################################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) reinstalling mc                                                                                                                                    [##############################################################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate... 

As you can see, it does not seem to have any negative effect. Still, is an error I'd like to fix.
How can I get rid of it?

Last edited by Lockheed (2023-05-16 21:16:35)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,453

Re: [solved] pacman calls out weird error

Touch the file, then reinstall linux-api-headers

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,338

Website

Re: [solved] pacman calls out weird error

First, I'm a bit distracted by something other than the primary error: that is not pacman output.  Do you have `pacman` aliased to some wrapper or helper tool?  Which one?

For the actual error message, have you tried reinstalling linux-api-headers?

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Lockheed

Member

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 1,542

Re: [solved] pacman calls out weird error

First, I'm a bit distracted by something other than the primary error: that is not pacman output.  Do you have `pacman` aliased to some wrapper or helper tool?  Which one?

You got me there - I actually put in output from pikaur, because it shows the same error. But I now replaced the code from OP with a genuine pacman output.

Touch the file, then reinstall linux-api-headers

for the actual error message, have you tried reinstalling linux-api-headers?

So I did touch all the files it was complaining about and tried to reinstall linux-api-headers, which failed due to countless errors like:

linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/posix_types.h exists in filesystem
linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/ppdev.h exists in filesystem
linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/ppp-comp.h exists in filesystem
linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/ppp-ioctl.h exists in filesystem
linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/ppp_defs.h exists in filesystem
linux-api-headers: /usr/include/linux/pps.h exists in filesystem

which are not owned by any package (?!).
Is it safe to force install?

EDIT:
I run

pacman -S  --overwrite \* linux-api-headers

I think it fixed it.

Last edited by Lockheed (2023-05-16 21:16:14)