gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

Potomac · 2025-06-08 00:12:10

Hello,

I notice a serious problem with gpgmepp package,

on my system gpgmepp was installed since 2015, with the version number "15.08.0-1", and version was increased to 16.08.3-1 in 2016, then no new version since 2016 :

[2015-08-23 16:08] [ALPM] installed gpgmepp (15.08.0-1)
[2015-09-21 17:44] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.08.0-1 -> 15.08.1-1)
[2015-10-13 23:52] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.08.1-1 -> 15.08.2-1)
[2015-11-11 05:09] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.08.2-1 -> 15.08.3-1)
[2015-12-10 17:40] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.08.3-1 -> 15.08.3-2)
[2015-12-20 22:17] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.08.3-2 -> 15.12.0-1)
[2016-01-13 18:01] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.12.0-1 -> 15.12.1-1)
[2016-02-16 23:48] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.12.1-1 -> 15.12.2-1)
[2016-03-16 23:10] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.12.2-1 -> 15.12.3-1)
[2016-04-23 19:24] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (15.12.3-1 -> 16.04.0-1)
[2016-05-11 00:18] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.04.0-1 -> 16.04.1-1)
[2016-06-14 21:24] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.04.1-1 -> 16.04.2-1)
[2016-06-24 01:33] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.04.2-1 -> 16.04.2-2)
[2016-07-13 20:17] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.04.2-2 -> 16.04.3-1)
[2016-08-31 22:50] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.04.3-1 -> 16.08.0-1)
[2016-09-10 20:31] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.08.0-1 -> 16.08.1-1)
[2016-10-13 23:50] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.08.1-1 -> 16.08.2-1)
[2016-11-11 20:59] [ALPM] upgraded gpgmepp (16.08.2-1 -> 16.08.3-1)

Then a recent "pacman -Syu" didn't propose me the new version of gpgmepp package : 2.0.0-2, because Pacman thinks that I have the most recent version of gpgmepp package (16.08.3-1),

this brings a big problem : new version from june 2025 of libreoffice and Okular can not longer work, because these softwares require libgpgmepp.so.7, that doesn't exist with gpgmepp 16.08.3-1,

the solution for me is to force pacman to reinstall gpgmepp, I get a warning from Pacman, telling me that the version he is trying to install is older (2.0.0-2) :

[2025-06-08T01:55:02+0200] [ALPM] downgraded gpgmepp (16.08.3-1 -> 2.0.0-2)

Perhaps the PKGBUILD of gpgmepp missed this scenario (conflict between the 16.08.3-1 version from 2016, and the 2 version from june 2025).

In the PKGBUILD of gpgmepp I see this :

conflicts=('gpgme<2')

Perhaps a better option would be this, in order to manage the scenario of a gppgmepp installed with the "16" version :

conflicts=('gpgme<2', 'gpgmepp>2')

Last edited by Potomac (2025-06-08 00:30:55)

Scimmia · 2025-06-08 00:33:25

It doesn't appear that the package you're talking about has existed for a long, long time. When was the last time you've cleaned old, stale package from this system?

mpan · 2025-06-08 00:43:03

Looking through the archives, it seems that by the end of 2017 package “gpgmepp” was removed from the official repos. It has only been introduced again a few days ago. I doubt after 8 years anybody would remember a package with that name already existed. If they did, it should no longer be installed anyway.

Remove that old package, then proceed with update.

Also, check regularly the list of foreign packages. If any package appears there without you doing anything, it’s a sign the package went out of repositories:

pacman -Qm

Wondersye · 2025-06-08 17:09:29

Had the same problem, due to cascading dependencies removing gpgmepp does not seem to be a good solution:

$ pacman -R gpgmepp
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by akonadi-calendar
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by kget
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by kwallet
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by libkleo
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by libreoffice-fresh
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by messagelib
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by poppler
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by qgpgme

(and so on)

So the best course of action seems to be the one suggested by OP, namely downgrading gpgmepp:

$ pacman -Sy gpgmepp
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
warning: downgrading package gpgmepp (16.08.3-1 => 2.0.0-2)
resolving dependencies...
[...]

(and then inkscape, evince, etc. stop crashing)

dakota · 2025-06-08 19:18:09

Wondersye wrote:

Had the same problem, due to cascading dependencies removing gpgmepp does not seem to be a good solution:

$ pacman -R gpgmepp
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by akonadi-calendar
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by kget
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by kwallet
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by libkleo
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by libreoffice-fresh
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by messagelib
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by poppler
:: removing gpgmepp breaks dependency 'gpgmepp' required by qgpgme

(and so on)

So the best course of action seems to be the one suggested by OP, namely downgrading gpgmepp:

(and then inkscape, evince, etc. stop crashing)

When is the last time you updated your system? Because I don't see gpgmepp as being required by any of those packages.

Cheers,

mpan · 2025-06-08 21:52:04

dakota wrote:

Because I don't see gpgmepp as being required by any of those packages.

See the “required by” list at gpgmepp package page.

Also here’s the output from a freshly updated system, using pactree (which transitively also depends on gpgmepp):

 $ pactree -srd 1 gpgmepp
gpgmepp
├─akonadi-calendar
├─isoimagewriter
├─kdepim-addons
├─kget
├─kleopatra
├─kmail
├─kmymoney
├─kwallet
├─libkleo
├─libreoffice-fresh
├─mailcommon
├─merkuro
├─messagelib
├─mimetreeparser
├─plasma-pass
├─poppler
└─qgpgme

 $ pactree -sru gpgmepp | wc -l
713

Last edited by mpan (2025-06-08 21:52:54)

Scimmia · 2025-06-08 23:18:35

mpan wrote:

dakota wrote:
Because I don't see gpgmepp as being required by any of those packages.
See the “required by” list at gpgmepp package page.

Yes, they are *now*, but they weren't. The only way the system could have gotten in that state would be being multiple years old, or a partial update (they ignored that package and updated everything else).

Wondersye wrote:

So the best course of action seems to be the one suggested by OP, namely downgrading gpgmepp:
$ pacman -Sy gpgmepp
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
warning: downgrading package gpgmepp (16.08.3-1 => 2.0.0-2)
resolving dependencies...
[...]
(and then inkscape, evince, etc. stop crashing)

They wouldn't have crashed in the first place, and you wouldn't have had an issue removing the old package if you would just STOP DOING PARTIAL UPDATES. This -Sy here is a TERRIBLE idea that's causing you problems!

Last edited by Scimmia (2025-06-08 23:31:39)

dakota · 2025-06-09 16:31:21

mpan wrote:

See the “required by” list at gpgmepp package page.
Also here’s the output from a freshly updated system, using pactree (which transitively also depends on gpgmepp):

Ah, yes. Well... you see... er... my system wasn't updated, so I didn't see the new gpgmepp requirements.

Last edited by dakota (2025-06-09 16:32:44)

seth · 2025-06-09 22:50:10

They wouldn't have crashed in the first place, and you wouldn't have had an issue removing the old package

Tbf, having the stale gpgmepp package around would get you into the situation where it prevents the installation of the new gpgmepp (2.0x) version and becomes a hard dep for a series of other packages - no partial up/downgrade action by the user is required to get *into* this.
The "y" in "pacman -Sy gpgmepp" is then of course wrong for principle reasons , but in the specific case was also completely inert (otherwise might cause partial updates later on through any "pacman -S foo")

The error on the users ends is not somewhat frequently-ish be filtering

pacman -Qdt; pacman -Qmt

and on the packages side the pretty much understandable failure to realize that a package was re-introduced (with an incompatible versioning scheme, because Murphy owns us all)

If you're running into this and asking "how could I have averted this", run a monthy cronjob or timer that presents you the output of the two pacman queries and ask yourself, "do I still need all of those?"
For the first batch, maybe set them to explicitly installed. For the second, "grep -Ev" is your friend

Allan · 2025-06-09 23:40:31

TBH - pacman should be better are removing newly unneeded dependencies on package upgrades.

mpan · 2025-06-10 05:52:10

Allan wrote:

TBH - pacman should be better are removing newly unneeded dependencies on package upgrades.

Yes, someone should implement a warning, when a package switches between native and foreign, or if it becomes an unneeded dependency. But everybody only asks a Someone person to do something, and they can’t do everything!

I solve a half of that problem by running a post-transaction hook with * packages as the target. Reports if `pacman -Qdt` returns anything.

Scimmia wrote:

mpan wrote:
dakota wrote:
Because I don't see gpgmepp as being required by any of those packages.
See the “required by” list at gpgmepp package page.
Yes, they are *now*, but they weren't. The only way the system could have gotten in that state would be being multiple years old, or a partial update (they ignored that package and updated everything else).

Dakota isn’t the OP. They’re replying to another user, with nothing suggesting a greatly outdated system, but with what I interpret as a surprise somebody else sees gpgmepp as a dependency. So I gave them the current view of the istuation from both the official site and a system updated just a few minutes earlier.

Potomac · 2025-06-11 17:32:23

It would be interesting if Pacman can display a warning, when during a "pacman -Syu" command he notices that an installed package version is more recent than the version located on the official repository.

This problem of foreign package can occur if the installation of Arch Linux is old (2013 for example) and if the user forgot to remove this package,

Gpgmepp package existed in 2016 in the official repository with a version number of "16.x", but I forgot to remove this package between 2016 and 2025, hence the problem when this package makes a comeback in the official repository in june 2025. with a lower number version ("2", instead of continuing the number version serie "16.*")

Last edited by Potomac (2025-06-11 17:35:33)

mpan · 2025-06-11 18:18:06

Potomac wrote:

It would be interesting if Pacman can display a warning, when during a "pacman -Syu" command he notices that an installed package version is more recent than the version located on the official repository.

It does for ages.

tekstryder · 2025-06-11 20:13:53

Potomac wrote:

It would be interesting if Pacman can display a warning

Oh it sure does.

pacman -Syu wrote:

warning: gdm: local (48.0-2.1) is newer than extra (48.0-2)
warning: gimp: local (3.0.4-3.1) is newer than extra (3.0.4-3)
warning: gjs: local (2:1.84.2-1.1) is newer than extra (2:1.84.2-1)
warning: gnome-control-center: local (48.2.ecb3a2a2-91) is newer than extra (48.2-1)
warning: gnome-session: local (48.0-1.2) is newer than extra (48.0-1)
warning: gnome-settings-daemon: local (48.1-1.1) is newer than extra (48.1-1)
warning: gnome-shell: local (1:48.2-1.99) is newer than extra (1:48.2-1)
warning: gparted: local (1.7.0-1.1) is newer than extra (1.7.0-1)
warning: gst-plugin-gtk4: local (0.13.6-1.1) is newer than extra (0.13.6-1)
warning: gtk-update-icon-cache: local (1:4.18.6-1.1) is newer than extra (1:4.18.6-1)
warning: gtk-vnc: local (1.5.0-1.1) is newer than extra (1.5.0-1)
warning: gtk3: local (1:3.24.49-2.1) is newer than extra (1:3.24.49-2)
warning: gtk4: local (1:4.18.6-1.1) is newer than extra (1:4.18.6-1)
warning: gtkmm3: local (3.24.10-1.1) is newer than extra (3.24.10-1)
warning: libcanberra: local (1:0.30+r2+gc0620e4-4.1) is newer than extra (1:0.30+r2+gc0620e4-4)
warning: libgdm: local (48.0-2.1) is newer than extra (48.0-2)
warning: libnautilus-extension: local (48.2-1.1) is newer than extra (48.2-1)
warning: libnma-common: local (1.10.6-3.1) is newer than extra (1.10.6-3)
warning: libnma-gtk4: local (1.10.6-3.1) is newer than extra (1.10.6-3)
warning: libportal: local (0.9.1-2.1) is newer than extra (0.9.1-2)
warning: libportal-gtk4: local (0.9.1-2.1) is newer than extra (0.9.1-2)
warning: libportal-qt6: local (0.9.1-2.1) is newer than extra (0.9.1-2)
warning: libreoffice-fresh: local (25.2.4-1.1) is newer than extra (25.2.4-1)
warning: loupe: local (48.1-1.1) is newer than extra (48.1-1)
warning: mutter: local (48.3.1-1.1) is newer than extra (48.3.1-1)
warning: nautilus: local (48.2-1.1) is newer than extra (48.2-1)
warning: papers: local (48.3-1.1) is newer than extra (48.3-1)
warning: spice-gtk: local (0.42-4.1) is newer than extra (0.42-4)
warning: veracrypt: local (1.26.24-2.1) is newer than extra (1.26.24-2)
warning: webkit2gtk-4.1: local (2.48.3-1.1) is newer than extra (2.48.3-1)
warning: webkitgtk-6.0: local (2.48.3-1.1) is newer than extra (2.48.3-1)
warning: wxwidgets-common: local (3.2.8.1-2.1) is newer than extra (3.2.8.1-2)
warning: wxwidgets-gtk3: local (3.2.8.1-2.1) is newer than extra (3.2.8.1-2)
warning: xdg-desktop-portal-gnome: local (48.0-2.1) is newer than extra (48.0-2)
warning: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk: local (1.15.3-1.1) is newer than extra (1.15.3-1)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-06-08 00:12:10

gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#2 2025-06-08 00:33:25

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#3 2025-06-08 00:43:03

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#4 2025-06-08 17:09:29

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#5 2025-06-08 19:18:09

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#6 2025-06-08 21:52:04

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#7 2025-06-08 23:18:35

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#8 2025-06-09 16:31:21

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#9 2025-06-09 22:50:10

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#10 2025-06-09 23:40:31

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#11 2025-06-10 05:52:10

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#12 2025-06-11 17:32:23

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#13 2025-06-11 18:18:06

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

#14 2025-06-11 20:13:53

Re: gpgmepp package has a naming version problem which troubles Pacman

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