Pacman's local database lost

Csosa · 2010-04-29 18:02:26

Wait, wait, before you tell me to look at the other almost identical thread and the wiki entry - I already did . This is the difference: I still have pacman.log and my entire /var/ is safe and sound. The problem is this:

Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.
error : /var/lib/pacman//local : No such file or directory

That comes up after trying to re-install pactools from AUR, and I gather that some process is erroneously looking for //local, a simple syntax error. I did pt-pacman-cage (a few days ago, error-free) and I installed kernel26-ck (immediately before this problem occured) so I think installing the new kernel before "uncaging" pacman is causing this. I'm posting on the forum to see if I could avoid re-installing all the packages like the wiki says (I've already made pkglist). Would Xyne's perl script help me? Can I uncage pacman manually? Is my old vanilla kernel still here or has it been overwritten? Will our hero survive the Sphinx's questioning or will he be lost forever in the Binary Maze? Stay tuned!

Last edited by Csosa (2010-04-30 02:31:39)

eldragon · 2010-04-29 20:53:36

scratch that. sorry

Last edited by eldragon (2010-04-29 20:57:02)

n0dix · 2010-04-29 21:06:17

Are you sure the package is pacmantools and not pactools?
Btw, pactools is outdated. http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=5907

flamelab · 2010-04-29 21:06:42

It's a non recoverable issue, in any linux distro, I suppose.

Imho, you need to reinstall your system.

Personally, after having ext4 (with a previous kernel) causing problems with missing files on /var/lib/pacman, I make a backup of it every day with a cron script.

Csosa · 2010-04-30 02:29:16

n0dix wrote:

Are you sure the package is pacmantools and not pactools?
Btw, pactools is outdated. http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=5907

Yeap, you're right. I didn't even realize it was outdated; should it be removed from [wiki]Improve_Pacman_Performance#Pacman-cage[/wiki]?

(edit)
As an interesting side-note,

pacman-optimize && sync

has hung for 5+ hours.

Last edited by Csosa (2010-04-30 02:31:01)

n0dix · 2010-04-30 02:32:18

Csosa wrote:

n0dix wrote:
Are you sure the package is pacmantools and not pactools?
Btw, pactools is outdated. http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=5907
Yeap, you're right. I didn't even realize it was outdated; should it be removed from [wiki]Improve_Pacman_Performance#Pacman-cage[/wiki]?
(edit)
As an interesting side-note,
pacman-optimize && sync
has hung for 5+ hours.

Indeed.

(edit)

about

# pacman-optimize && sync

I don't know if it is normal.

Last edited by n0dix (2010-04-30 02:40:01)

n0dix · 2010-04-30 02:42:36

This method is safe, but is not for-sure. It depends on your filesystem, disk usage and empty space fragmentation.

Anyway, if you don't get an error or a problem with pacman i supposed is ok.

Csosa · 2010-04-30 03:58:00

n0dix wrote:

Anyway, if you don't get an error or a problem with pacman i supposed is ok.

Thanks for the responce, but I think that it hung (essentially it couldn't complete) because of the missing? pacman database, so to me it makes this problem more interesting. If I had more linux and arch knowledge, it would perhaps be more of a missing puzzle piece than a fun fact.

Gen2ly · 2010-05-02 02:32:01

Csosa wrote:

Can I uncage pacman manually? Is my old vanilla kernel still here or has it been overwritten? Will our hero survive the Sphinx's questioning or will he be lost forever in the Binary Maze? Stay tuned!

I've had similar problems with with the cage scripts. Once I had to chroot and tried to pacman uncage and my database was lost. Ever since I've not used them because these type of things to me have to be 100% reliable. Luckily I keep a test file of all my packages:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 05#p719905

and was able to restore them from that.

Sorry bro, but reinstalling is probably your only solution.

Note to self: fix wiki page like it was previously to give a type of warning.

Edit: Ok, added.

Last edited by Gen2ly (2010-05-02 02:36:29)

some-guy94 · 2010-05-02 02:52:26

Csosa wrote:

Wait, wait, before you tell me to look at the other almost identical thread and the wiki entry - I already did . This is the difference: I still have pacman.log and my entire /var/ is safe and sound. The problem is this:
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.
error : /var/lib/pacman//local : No such file or directory
That comes up after trying to re-install pactools from AUR, and I gather that some process is erroneously looking for //local, a simple syntax error. I did pt-pacman-cage (a few days ago, error-free) and I installed kernel26-ck (immediately before this problem occured) so I think installing the new kernel before "uncaging" pacman is causing this. I'm posting on the forum to see if I could avoid re-installing all the packages like the wiki says (I've already made pkglist). Would Xyne's perl script help me? Can I uncage pacman manually? Is my old vanilla kernel still here or has it been overwritten? Will our hero survive the Sphinx's questioning or will he be lost forever in the Binary Maze? Stay tuned!

Try making it so the db is mounted in rc.local and not by fstab.
I use

stat_busy "Mounting Pacman DB"
    mount -o loop,noatime,noauto /var/lib/pacman.db /var/lib/pacman
stat_done

athetius · 2010-12-28 07:21:39

I know this is slightly old, but I had the same problem and fixed it. (This topic shows up on Google when one searches for "/var/lib/pacman//local no such file or directory") which I get when trying to sync with yaourt -Sy (or pacman-color -Sy)

yaourt -Sy
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
error : /var/lib/pacman//local : No such file or directory

When I try to run the pacmandb daemon it complains that you need to run fsck such as here:

sudo /etc/rc.d/pacmandb start
:: Mounting the pacman database [BUSY]
/var/lib/pacman.db: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
(i.e., without -a or -p options)
[FAIL]
WARNING: PACMAN DATABASE FILESYSTEM CHECK FAILED, NOT MOUNTED

run fsck on /var/lib/pacman.db and then start the daemon again and it will work.
Just wanted to clear this up for anyone who comes searching for the same problem and lands here.
Thank you.

Last edited by athetius (2010-12-28 07:23:30)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-04-29 18:02:26

Pacman's local database lost

#2 2010-04-29 20:53:36

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#3 2010-04-29 21:06:17

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#4 2010-04-29 21:06:42

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#5 2010-04-30 02:29:16

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#6 2010-04-30 02:32:18

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#7 2010-04-30 02:42:36

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#8 2010-04-30 03:58:00

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#9 2010-05-02 02:32:01

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#10 2010-05-02 02:52:26

Re: Pacman's local database lost

#11 2010-12-28 07:21:39

Re: Pacman's local database lost

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