Arch Linux

isom7rphism

Member

Registered: 2025-03-30

Posts: 3

Pacman Refresh Behavior

Consider the following scenario:

1) My roommate goes on a road trip to another state.
2) No issues downloading packages while out of town.
3) When he comes back, he tries to install fastfetch, but error.
4) I tell him to sync, sysupgrade, and force refresh ( pacman -Syyu ).
5) The install now works.

The curious thing is, he said he ran this command yesterday while he was out of state. But fastfetch received its last update in its repo about a week ago (*).

Not looking for specific answer, but just intuition/ideas as to why (4) fixed the issue given (*) is true.

jl2

Member

From: 47° 18' N 8° 34' E

Registered: 2022-06-01

Posts: 1,321

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

Please post actual error messages, don't tell us there is one.

My guess:
Pacman package versions aren't kept in the repos forever, once nothing depends on them anymore they are dropped.
Pacman, knowing that the newest package version can't be installed due to it's dependencies being too old (or just simply not knowing that a newer version exists), will try to download a older version which doesn't exist in the repo anymore.

Whatever you do, don't do partial system upgrades, they might temporarily fix that without updating but may break stuff in the long run.
Also, Arch Linux is a rolling release distro, you are encouraged to update regularly, what's your problem with it?

OT: -Syu is sufficient most of the time, unless you want to force a refresh even though it might not be necessary. Saves time (repo database downloads are always the slowest)

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isom7rphism

Member

Registered: 2025-03-30

Posts: 3

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

Please post actual error messages, don't tell us there is one.

I am not looking for a solution or specific answer, hence why I left out details. I am interested about what direction others think in more than anything.

will try to download a older version which doesn't exist in the repo anymore.

If this is true, that's an exceptional design choice. Very cool to me.

what's your problem with it?

None.

Thanks for your time.

Last edited by isom7rphism (2025-05-07 15:20:20)

mithrial

Member

Registered: 2017-03-05

Posts: 151

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

You have to update the local database. How else would pacman know which packages exist and in which version? Always use  pacman -Syu to update and or install packages.

If you still get outdated packages, your chosen mirror is not up-to-date.

Nikolai5

Member

From: North West, England, UK

Registered: 2024-01-27

Posts: 272

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman

Here's some further reading, but as others have said, if your database says a package is on version 2 and the mirror has version 3 you won't find version 2, so you sync and then install. You can do that with the same command you install the program of choice.

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seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,315

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

I am not looking for a solution or specific answer, hence why I left out details. I am interested about what direction others think in more than anything.

he said he ran this command yesterday while he was out of state.

Check the pacman log for what *actually* has happened?

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jl2

Member

From: 47° 18' N 8° 34' E

Registered: 2022-06-01

Posts: 1,321

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

https://www.tallengestore.com/cdn/shop/ … 1570046017

God damn it I hate that guy.

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seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,315

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

The actor, archetype, character, interpretation or just feeling inferior because of him?
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- Jeeves and Wooster, you can thank me later
- Spoiler: he's Sherlock Holmes
- He's meant to be an unlikable jerk
- I think Laurie did a fine Job at that
- Well, too bad

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jl2

Member

From: 47° 18' N 8° 34' E

Registered: 2022-06-01

Posts: 1,321

Re: Pacman Refresh Behavior

The actor, archetype, character, interpretation or just feeling inferior because of him?

yes.

Last edited by jl2 (2025-05-08 17:44:43)

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And to let my siblings and cousins laugh at Arsch Linux...

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