[solved] pacman update error

beretta · 2011-01-25 17:57:11

A few days ago I attempted to update my system, and am consistently getting this error:

 $ sudo pacman -Su
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...
error: failed to prepare transaction (package filename is not valid)

The problem is that this is all it gives me; even a pacman -Svu gives no more information than this. How can I identify the package that's causing the fault short of testing each installed package individually?

Last edited by beretta (2011-01-25 19:32:02)

Mr Green · 2011-01-25 18:00:19

what does

pacman -Syu

give you?

beretta · 2011-01-25 18:06:38

The same, but with updating the databases.

skunktrader · 2011-01-25 18:31:18

Try a different mirror if you havent already

Mr Green · 2011-01-25 18:35:32

Either mirrors or pacman is out of date

pacman -Qi pacman

toad · 2011-01-25 18:36:52

get reflector and use it to keep your mirrors up to date

beretta · 2011-01-25 19:10:35

Great idea; unfortunately, even after installing reflector, moving mirrorlist.pacnew to mirrorlist, and enabling only the two fastest mirrors, the error still occurs. I also tried enabling only ftp.archlinux.org in mirrorlist, and I still get the same error.

toad · 2011-01-25 19:17:53

Sorry, I didn't _read_ the problem correctly

What does your pacman.log say?

denisfalqueto · 2011-01-25 19:23:41

Have you forced the download of metadata with -Syy? Just to be sure.

beretta · 2011-01-25 19:25:09

Each attempt only logs two lines to pacman.log. Last two lines show the previous run, all the others look just like it:

[2011-01-25 14:23] Running 'pacman -Svu'
[2011-01-25 14:23] starting full system upgrade

In other words, nothing useful there.

ataraxia · 2011-01-25 19:28:42

Do "testdb" (checks local DB) and then "testdb core extra community (and any other repos you may have)". Maybe this will complain about some specific cause.

Also, try "pacman -Su --debug".

beretta · 2011-01-25 19:31:45

A pacman -Syy seems to have done the trick, thank you!

Not sure exactly what caused the problem, but I was able to get the system updated. I'm always impressed with how quickly this community jumps in to help; thanks to all of you. I even learned some new tricks through all of this.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-25 17:57:11

[solved] pacman update error

#2 2011-01-25 18:00:19

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#3 2011-01-25 18:06:38

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#4 2011-01-25 18:31:18

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#5 2011-01-25 18:35:32

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#6 2011-01-25 18:36:52

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#7 2011-01-25 19:10:35

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#8 2011-01-25 19:17:53

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#9 2011-01-25 19:23:41

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#10 2011-01-25 19:25:09

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#11 2011-01-25 19:28:42

Re: [solved] pacman update error

#12 2011-01-25 19:31:45

Re: [solved] pacman update error

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