Arch Linux

grobber

Member

Registered: 2018-02-09

Posts: 31

[SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

I am trying to update the system with the usual

sudo pacman -Syu

This chokes on downloading community.db repeatedly:

:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core downloading...
 extra downloading...
 community downloading...
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from arch.mirror.constant.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from us.mirrors.cicku.me : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirror.wdc1.us.leaseweb.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from arch.mirror.constant.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from arlm.tyzoid.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.vectair.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.vectair.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from arch.mirror.constant.com : Protocol "rsync" not supported
warning: too many errors from arch.mirror.constant.com, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from losangeles.mirror.pkgbuild.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from us.arch.niranjan.co : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.lug.mtu.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirror.sfo12.us.leaseweb.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirror.sfo12.us.leaseweb.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from arlm.tyzoid.com : Protocol "rsync" not supported
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from us.arch.niranjan.co : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from america.mirror.pkgbuild.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.lug.mtu.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.lug.mtu.edu : Protocol "rsync" not supported
warning: too many errors from mirrors.lug.mtu.edu, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.bjg.at : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.acm.wpi.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed to synchronize all databases (failed to retrieve some files)

I seem to remember something about a database format upgrade when doing a recent update; I am not sure if this has anything to do with that.

Last edited by grobber (2025-03-02 03:01:35)

skunktrader

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2010-02-14

Posts: 1,591

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

You are 2+ years out of date

https://archlinux.org/news/cleaning-up- … ositories/

grobber

Member

Registered: 2018-02-09

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

You are 2+ years out of date

So I am.. Thank you for pointing me to that! As I understand, all I have to do is comment out [community] in /etc/pacman.conf. I have done so, and an update went smoothly just now.

Thanks again for the speedy help; I will marked this 'solved'.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,530

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

For reference: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman … nd_Pacsave

Ignore your pacnew files, things blow up. Ignore the news, things blow up. This is normal.

Last edited by Scimmia (2025-03-02 03:06:40)

pawamoy

Member

Registered: 2019-12-10

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

@grobber thanks for opening this thread, it was helpful to me since I was out of date too. @Scimmia I would have loved *not* to ignore the pacnew files or the news if I knew they existed ^^ I suppose my distro maintainers usually do that kind of update for me, though I'm on an abandoned one (ArchLabs). Removed community entry from /etc/pacman.conf as mentioned, working fine now. Thanks everybody

Last edited by pawamoy (2025-03-02 10:58:36)

hakova

Member

Registered: 2009-11-11

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

@grobber thanks for opening this thread, it was helpful to me since I was out of date too. @Scimmia I would have loved *not* to ignore the pacnew files or the news if I knew they existed ^^ I suppose my distro maintainers usually do that kind of update for me, though I'm on an abandoned one (ArchLabs). Removed community entry from /etc/pacman.conf as mentioned, working fine now. Thanks everybody

I second that. Thank you, @grobber and everybody else who helped clarify the issue here!

soloturn

Member

Registered: 2016-04-18

Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

would have been nicer if the update could have removed it by itself. i love arch because it is low maintenance, and has sensible defaults.

skunktrader

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2010-02-14

Posts: 1,591

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

would have been nicer if the update could have removed it by itself.

2 years ago it did IF you hadn't modified pacman.conf -- in which case it generated a pacnew file for you you to merge. If you didn't merge it then you were bitten by this.
If you read the news you would have been warned.
How much more can the devs reasonably do?

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,530

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

i love arch because it is low maintenance.

I don't know where you got that idea, but it is completely and utterly false. It requires constant and timely maintenance.

basie

Member

Registered: 2017-09-28

Posts: 18

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

Another 2+ years out of date, thanks for the re-education! Need to look into better maintenance habits.

JamesCovenant

Member

Registered: 2014-10-24

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

sudo pacman -Syu

community.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from mirrors.vectair.net : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from america.mirror.pkgbuild.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'community.db' from archlinux.uk.mirror.allworldit.com : The requested URL returned error: 404
update constantly and just started getting this.

Last edited by JamesCovenant (2025-03-03 05:57:27)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 62,236

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

Did you read the thread?
Fix your pacman.conf, don't ignore update messages, frequently run pacdiff.

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JamesCovenant

Member

Registered: 2014-10-24

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

poked around it was a pacnew needed to update

nilamo

Member

Registered: 2025-03-06

Posts: 1

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

I installed Arch less than 6 months (Dec 2024).  I'm seeing this error.  The condescension in this thread about not updating or watching news articles is uncalled for, imo

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 62,236

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

The community.db was removed 2 years ago.
There's *no way* you installed an at least somewhat not-completely-oudated-ish arch-archlinux (in contrast to random-derivate-archlinux) last december and had the repo in your pacman.conf.
None.

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chrystom

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2022-07-19

Posts: 1

Website

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

I installed Arch less than 6 months (Dec 2024).  I'm seeing this error.  The condescension in this thread about not updating or watching news articles is uncalled for, imo

Maybe you downloaded an old Arch ISO file?

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SimonJ

Member

Registered: 2021-05-11

Posts: 193

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

Not sure if this is relevant, I run Arch and have not had this issue, my partner has EndeavourOS because it is pretty <sigh> their machine had this error this week, an easy fix as noted above, but maybe it is not Arch you installed?

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cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,369

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

Maybe you downloaded an old Arch ISO file?

even if it doesn't make sense:
if the iso is too old one would have difficulties to install anything because of a too old keyring so pacstrap would fail completely
if the iso is new enough so the keyring doesn't cause issues pacstrap downloads the current version which no longer has the community repo
also an outdated mirror is not an option because the arch install medium runs reflector on startup so it gets a fresh set of active-synced mirror
so, no matter how: if the install was done after the community repo got removed there's no way the config would still reference it

schard

Forum Moderator

From: Hannover

Registered: 2016-05-06

Posts: 2,213

Website

Re: [SOLVED] unable to retrieve community.db: 404 errors

Mod note: I am going to close this solved topic to prevent further derailment. The community has been notified about the issue at hand via the news page and now there is this thread with its solution as well.

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