Arch Linux

archibutor

Member

Registered: 2010-09-08

Posts: 7

[resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

Juiciness:
Is something wonky with the mirrors?

Description:
`pacman -Syu` succeeds "synchronizing package databases", but exits with "there is nothing to do".

A suprise, because no updates for days.
Digging reveals borken mirrors in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.

Question:
1. Is something wrong with (these) mirrors (in general)?
2. `pacman -Syu` succeeds, even when used mirror appears broken. Is this a bug? Certainly not desired form my point of view, or automated scripts'.

Said mirrors:
(both show "Could not parse time from lastsync".)

myrveln.se
Mirror: https://ftp.myrveln.se/pub/linux/archlinux/
Info: https://archlinux.org/mirrors/myrveln.se/
Details: https://archlinux.org/mirrors/myrveln.se/766/

f4st.host
Mirror: https://mirror.f4st.host/archlinux/
Info: https://archlinux.org/mirrors/f4st.host/
Details: https://archlinux.org/mirrors/f4st.host/755/

Last edited by archibutor (2023-03-01 18:27:55)

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 648

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

https://archlinux.org/mirrors/status/ shows that they're both out of sync.

smirky

Member

From: Bulgaria

Registered: 2013-02-23

Posts: 277

Website

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

Yep, there's definitely an issue with all the mirrors I've tried, including those 100% completion in the page above. Is there a bug report or anything?

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mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,343

Website

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

The mirror used by smirky is misbehaving. I reported the issue with uni-plovdiv.net after we talked in #archlinux. This is a problem very different from one reported by archibutor. archibutor’s mirrors are simply out of sync and they are correctly reported as such.

The solution to both situations is, however, the same: changing the mirrors. reflector may help with that.

`pacman -Syu` succeeds, even when used mirror appears broken. Is this a bug? Certainly not desired form my point of view, or automated scripts'.

This is not a bug. Neither is there any not desired behavior in pacman, regarding this situation.⁽¹⁾ The mirror is simply broken and sends misleading responses to pacman. pacman receives perfectly valid information, which happens to be outdated.
____
⁽¹⁾ There were numerous ideas, which may help detecting trivially out-of-sync mirrors. But the goal is addressing a particular security concern and affecting this thread’s problem would happen as a side effect. It was also discussed as an improvement, not fixing any bug.

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archibutor

Member

Registered: 2010-09-08

Posts: 7

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

My problem has been answered and the other that spawned, is under inspection.
Thank you for your answers.

onetimehelper

Member

Registered: 2023-04-27

Posts: 12

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

I just have this happen and no updates for at least 3 days. I got suspicious, searched, found this thread, updated `reflector` by adding `--completion-percent 100` (no sure if it was really necessary since: "Default value: 100.0"), run it (the full command can be found in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist) and I got a list of many updates again

This is the original server list where I get no updates:

Server = https://mirror.ubrco.de/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.luzea.de/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.f4st.host/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.chaoticum.net/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://arch.jensgutermuth.de/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirrors.n-ix.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.pseudoform.org/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://de.arch.mirror.kescher.at/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://archlinux.thaller.ws/$repo/os/$arch

Really weird, since I compared some with the ones from archlinux.org/mirrors/status and at least one was "Completion %" 100 in that list. Maybe `pacman` just takes the first one without checking if it's 100% completed synchronizing?

Last edited by onetimehelper (2023-05-25 16:13:01)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,169

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

Read the top of the page to see what 100% means. It has nothing to do with syncing.

The top mirror is also the only one that really matters.

Last edited by Scimmia (2023-05-25 17:40:58)

onetimehelper

Member

Registered: 2023-04-27

Posts: 12

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

Read the top of the page to see what 100% means. It has nothing to do with syncing.

The top mirror is also the only one that really matters.

Ok, then it would be nice if `pacman` could detect that updates are actually available by:
* Maybe sometimes trying a different server from `mirrorlist`
* Periodically run `reflector` (or `pacman`'s own native solution if `reflector` isn't supported) to update the `mirrorlist`
* Periodically check all servers in `mirrorlist` for last-update-time and detect and display outdated ones
* (put ur solution here)
Seems like a security issue. Imagine no updates for months on unattended arch servers where people only run `sudo pacman -Suy`, guess people must be aware of this issue and add a `reflector` command to their systemd service then.

Fuxino

Member

From: Slovakia

Registered: 2014-09-26

Posts: 198

Re: [resolved] pacman -Syu success, but no updates (f4st.host, myrveln.se)

* Periodically run `reflector` (or `pacman`'s own native solution if `reflector` isn't supported) to update the `mirrorlist`

Reflector comes with a systemd service, you can enable it to run automatically at boot, or enable the systemd timer that also comes with reflector, which runs the service once per week: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Reflector#Automation

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