[basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

Ralf · 2026-02-10 08:52:01

Hi,

I have a problem with pacman-static.

"I tried different servers from

$ pacman -Q pacman-mirrorlist
pacman-mirrorlist 20260105-1

but always get

error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from [snip] : Could not resolve host: [snip] (DNS server returned answer with no data)" - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacm … nt-1058996....

"I use existing mirrors that work perfectly with pacman, but not with pacman-static.

FWIW my /etc/resolv.conf is not a symbolic link.

I may have found the culprit: "By default, openresolv only supports the libc resolver and must be customized for all other resolvers." – https://roy.marples.name/projects/openresolv

However, I don't have time to look into this further at the moment.

[snip]" - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacm … nt-1059028

Could it be that it is somehow related to musl and that openresolvconf needs to be specially configured for it?

Regards,
Ralf

Last edited by Ralf (Today 10:26:40)

seth · 2026-02-10 09:22:07

Do pacman and pacman-static actually use the same mirror?

DNS server returned answer with no data

ping -c1 [snip]
dig [snip]
resolvectl status

The omitted "[snip]" part is actually critically important here.

Ralf · 2026-02-10 10:05:41

I probably should have replaced "[snip]" with a variable. Yes, the tested mirrors were always the same. So a check with "ping" and "dig" is unnecessary.

"systemd-resolved is a systemd service that provides network name resolution to local applications via a D-Bus interface" - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-resolved

pacman-static does not need D-Bus. Why does resolvectl status matter?

# resolvectl status
Failed to get global data: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.resolve1.service not found.

# /bin/ls -l /etc/resolv.conf 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 68 Feb 10 08:28 /etc/resolv.conf

# cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# Generated by resolvconf
domain localdomain
nameserver 192.168.1.1

A clue seems to be the following:
" andreas_baumann commented on 2026-02-10 09:29 (UTC)
[snip]
Could be that curl in pacman-static is built without some extended DNS support (resolver). I'll try to reproduce that." - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacm … nt-1059035

seth · 2026-02-10 10:15:32

Why does resolvectl status matter?

Not, since you're not using resovled - the point was to get an idea of the overall resolver situation.

So a check with "ping" and "dig" is unnecessary.

Please post the dig output nevertheless, if it's from 192.168.1.1, compare it w/ dig @8.8.8.8

Ralf · 2026-02-10 10:43:08

$ dig https://mirror.moson.org/

; <<>> DiG 9.20.18 <<>> https://mirror.moson.org/
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 25373
;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;https://mirror.moson.org/.	IN	A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.			10800	IN	SOA	a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2026021000 1800 900 604800 86400

;; Query time: 23 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.1#53(192.168.1.1) (UDP)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 10 11:38:19 CET 2026
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 129

$ dig @8.8.8.8 https://mirror.moson.org/ 

; <<>> DiG 9.20.18 <<>> @8.8.8.8 https://mirror.moson.org/
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 15836
;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;https://mirror.moson.org/.	IN	A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.			86381	IN	SOA	a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2026021000 1800 900 604800 86400

;; Query time: 26 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8) (UDP)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 10 11:40:15 CET 2026
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 129

seth · 2026-02-10 14:43:52

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 15836

but likely because of the url, you resolve domains:

dig mirror.moson.org
dig @8.8.8.8 mirror.moson.org

The mirror comes back fine here, though.
Because of the curl stuff, what if you comment

# domain localdomain

in resolv.conf and what does your nsswitch.conf look like?

Ralf · 2026-02-10 18:46:30

At the moment, I am unable to post nsswitch.conf, among other things, but I will do so when I have the opportunity. First, however, I have a question. Isn't musl used instead of glibc for pacman-static, and if so, isn't nsswitch.conf completely irrelevant?

seth · 2026-02-10 19:42:16

Idk what musl queries, but you can strace pacman-static to see what's read.
But when it's going straight for resolv.conf and 192.168.1.1 properly resolves mirror.moson.org it will most likely stumble over "domain localdomain"

Ralf · Yesterday 18:51:12

I ran pacman-static twice in a row, once without and once with "domain localdomain" in /etc/resolv.conf.
It works without "domain localdomain".
To me, however, it doesn't look like a solution at first glance, but merely a reference to whatever.

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman-static -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                                                                                  122.5 KiB   957 KiB/s 00:00 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 extra                                                                                   7.9 MiB  6.84 MiB/s 00:01 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 multilib is up to date
 proaudio is up to date
 chaotic-aur                                                                           639.3 KiB  1766 KiB/s 00:00 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Starting full system upgrade...
[snip]

Packages (66) [snip]

Total Download Size:   1198.44 MiB
Total Installed Size:  3538.99 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      -202.92 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by resolvconf
#domain localdomain
nameserver 192.168.1.1

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman-static -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
 proaudio.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror.moson.org : Could not resolve host: mirror.moson.org (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror.moson.org, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'proaudio.db' from arch.osamc.de : Could not resolve host: arch.osamc.de (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from arch.osamc.de, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed to synchronize all databases (failed to retrieve some files)
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by resolvconf
domain localdomain
nameserver 192.168.1.1

seth · Yesterday 21:10:25

https://wiki.musl-libc.org/functional-d … solver/DNS
https://man.archlinux.org/man/core/man- … .en#search

Can handle musl the search syntax?
Why do you have the outdated entry there anyway, let alone *above* the nameserver?
Custom dated resolvconf.conf?

Ralf · Yesterday 23:22:04

I wasn't aware that it no longer belongs in /etc/resolv.conf today.

• root@archlinux /home/rocketmouse 
# cat /etc/resolvconf.conf
# Configuration for resolvconf(8)
# See resolvconf.conf(5) for details

resolv_conf=/etc/resolv.conf
# If you run a local name server, you should uncomment the below line and
# configure your subscribers configuration files below.
#name_servers=127.0.0.1

I then did the following:

• root@archlinux /home/rocketmouse 
# mv -i /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf-2026-02-11
• root@archlinux /home/rocketmouse 
# touch /etc/resolv.conf

This was followed by a restart, and after the restart, /etc/resolv.conf was still empty, as apparently nothing was writing anything to it.
To be on the safe side, I repeated the whole process with a slight variation.

• root@archlinux /home/rocketmouse 
# mv /etc/resolv.conf.pacnew /etc/resolv.conf && echo "nameserver 192.168.1.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf
• root@archlinux /home/rocketmouse 
# cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Resolver configuration file.
# See resolv.conf(5) for details.
nameserver 192.168.1.1

After another restart with an unchanged /etc/resolv.conf, something strange happened.

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman-static -Syu 
[sudo] password for rocketmouse: 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                                                                                  123.2 KiB   760 KiB/s 00:00 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 extra                                                                                   7.9 MiB  6.75 MiB/s 00:01 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                                                                              128.5 KiB  3.22 MiB/s 00:00 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 proaudio is up to date
 chaotic-aur                                                                           639.2 KiB  1723 KiB/s 00:00 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror.moson.org : Could not resolve host: mirror.moson.org (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror.moson.org, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
:: Starting full system upgrade...
[snip]

Packages (70) [snip]

Total Download Size:   1207.49 MiB
Total Installed Size:  3579.63 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      -202.80 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] ^C
Interrupt signal received

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Resolver configuration file.
# See resolv.conf(5) for details.
nameserver 192.168.1.1
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman-static -Syu 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra                                                                                   7.9 MiB  6.38 MiB/s 00:01 [---------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
 multilib is up to date
 proaudio.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror.moson.org : Could not resolve host: mirror.moson.org (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror.moson.org, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror-de-1.cutie.dating : Could not resolve host: mirror-de-1.cutie.dating (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror-de-1.cutie.dating, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'proaudio.db' from arch.osamc.de : Could not resolve host: arch.osamc.de (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from arch.osamc.de, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed to synchronize all databases (failed to retrieve some files)
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Resolver configuration file.
# See resolv.conf(5) for details.
nameserver 192.168.1.1
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
 proaudio is up to date
 chaotic-aur is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
[...]

Packages (72) [...]

Total Download Size:   1223.07 MiB
Total Installed Size:  3690.34 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      -202.79 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n

pacman-static is still fishy, while pacman works as expected.
So that alone does not solve the problem.

Ralf · Today 10:18:56

Update:

" andreas_baumann commented on 2026-02-12 08:45 (UTC) (edited on 2026-02-12 09:03 (UTC) by andreas_baumann)

I think I found the problem. c-ares is built with configure, that requires the autoreconf -fi script to be run before to even get the configure from configure.ac. As it is now, configure should bail out in the build, but somehow just is silently ignored? I could build it diretly also with cmake (as the upstream c=cares package is doing it).

I'm currently synching the PKGBUILDs of all packages with the local ones in pacman-static (config options, RISCV64), etc. just to make sure the differences are as small as possible.

I don't want pacman-static to become sick from "feature creep", but maybe those libraries from upstream should also be built into pacman-static (opinions?):

libidn2 (pacman mirrors don't really use punny-code)
libngtcp2 (probably not)
libnghttp3 (if pacman mirrors are on HTTP/3 maybe)
enable-ktls in openssl, requires newer kernels, so maybe not enable it right
now
--enable-ipv6: probably a good idea, might be enabled by default anyway" - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacm … nt-1059267

seth · Today 16:33:46

The part where you're downloading databases and then get a DNS error as explanation why the db you just fetched cannot be downloaded is indeed wild and suggests that the problem has never been DNS itfp but the error message itself is completely bogus and possibly the result of a corrupted stack.
Are you using the prebuilt binary of pacman-static or a local build from the AUR package?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman … uild_fails

Ralf · Today 17:49:23

An excerpt from my updated comment left in the AUR:

"I made a change in the wiki:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?ti … did=865179

Interestingly, pacman-static --version Pacman v6.0.1 - libalpm v13.0.1 from the link works for me, while aur/pacman-static 7.1.0.r9.g54d9411-3 still does not work. So far, I have not built pacman-static in a clean chroot." - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pacm … nt-1059278

In the past, I used the pacman-static repository and only noticed that the version in the repo had been stale since 20-Feb-2022, because a key had expired.

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ grep pacman-static /etc/pacman.conf -A2
#[pacman-static]
#SigLevel = Required
#Server = https://pkgbuild.com/~morganamilo/$repo/$arch

pacman-static binary downloaded to the Deskto/ and build from AUR:

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ Desktop/pacman-static --version

 .--.                  Pacman v6.0.1 - libalpm v13.0.1
/ _.-' .-.  .-.  .-.   Copyright (C) 2006-2021 Pacman Development Team
\  '-. '-'  '-'  '-'   Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Judd Vinet
 '--'
                       This program may be freely redistributed under
                       the terms of the GNU General Public License.

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ pacman -Q pacman-static
pacman-static 7.1.0.r9.g54d9411-3
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ /usr/bin/pacman-static --version

 .--.                  Pacman v7.1.0 - libalpm v16.0.1
/ _.-' .-.  .-.  .-.   Copyright (C) 2006-2025 Pacman Development Team
\  '-. '-'  '-'  '-'   Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Judd Vinet
 '--'
                       This program may be freely redistributed under
                       the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Last edited by Ralf (Today 17:53:40)

Ralf · Today 18:51:39

Just to be sure, I built the package again in a clean chroot.

• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ pacman -Qi pacman-static | head -3
Name            : pacman-static
Version         : 7.1.0.r9.g54d9411-3.1
Description     : Statically-compiled pacman build in a clean chroot
• rocketmouse@archlinux ~ 
$ sudo pacman-static -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
 proaudio.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror.moson.org : Could not resolve host: mirror.moson.org (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror.moson.org, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror-de-1.cutie.dating : Could not resolve host: mirror-de-1.cutie.dating (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from mirror-de-1.cutie.dating, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'proaudio.db' from arch.osamc.de : Could not resolve host: arch.osamc.de (DNS server returned answer with no data)
warning: fatal error from arch.osamc.de, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed to synchronize all databases (failed to retrieve some files)

Last edited by Ralf (Today 18:51:50)

andreas_baumann · Today 19:27:01

Ah, there is a crutial difference: pacman/glibc vs. pacman-static/musl. Could it be that musl (which is a little bit older) doesn't support openresolv at all? But why should version 6 have worked then? So this almost rules out musl and narrows down how curl is actually
doing DNS lookups (c-ares, threaded DNS lookup, gethostbyname), and how pacman uses curl to fetch data (if 6 worked and 7 doesn't).

Last edited by andreas_baumann (Today 19:34:02)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-02-10 08:52:01

[basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#2 2026-02-10 09:22:07

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#3 2026-02-10 10:05:41

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#4 2026-02-10 10:15:32

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#5 2026-02-10 10:43:08

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#6 2026-02-10 14:43:52

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#7 2026-02-10 18:46:30

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#8 2026-02-10 19:42:16

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#9 Yesterday 18:51:12

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#10 Yesterday 21:10:25

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#11 Yesterday 23:22:04

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#12 Today 10:18:56

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#13 Today 16:33:46

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#14 Today 17:49:23

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#15 Today 18:51:39

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

#16 Today 19:27:01

Re: [basically solved] How to use pacman-static with openresolvconf?

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