Arch Linux

therealtombaker

Member

Registered: 2007-12-05

Posts: 9

pacman issue

I was attempting to update today and when I typed pacman -Syu from root I got the following error message:

error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)
  if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck.

Does anyone know what this means or how I can resolve the issue?

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: pacman issue

It means that your last pacman process crashed and left the lock file behind. (Or you have another instance of pacman running already.) Just follow the advice it gives you: make sure that pacman is not running, and delete the file /var/lib/pacman/db.lck.

therealtombaker

Member

Registered: 2007-12-05

Posts: 9

Re: pacman issue

It means that your last pacman process crashed and left the lock file behind. (Or you have another instance of pacman running already.) Just follow the advice it gives you: make sure that pacman is not running, and delete the file /var/lib/pacman/db.lck.

Thanks, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that. I can't find the file from the terminal as root, and while I can find the file in my file browser I can't delete it from there. I am sure the solution is quite simple, but alas I am such a newbie that I can't execute it.

Misbah

Member

Registered: 2008-02-27

Posts: 218

Re: pacman issue

deleted

Last edited by Misbah (2012-02-14 05:49:51)

therealtombaker

Member

Registered: 2007-12-05

Posts: 9

Re: pacman issue

It worked. Thanks.