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pooldoo

Member

Registered: 2008-06-07

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

While trying to "pacman -Syu" I get the message:

error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/binutils-2.21-8/desc

Error message repeats too many times to count.  I am then prompted with:

Proceed with installation?

...I answered YES, and packages were downloaded, but failed to upgrade, displaying the following multiple times:

error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/binutils-2.21-8/desc

... then

error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
binutils: /usr/bin/ar exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/as exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/c++filt exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/elfedit exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/ld.gold exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/nm exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/strings exists in filesystem
errors occurred, no packages were updated.

What happened?  How do I proceed?
Thanks.

Last edited by pooldoo (2011-07-19 22:05:11)

yasar11732

Member

Registered: 2010-11-29

Posts: 127

Re: [SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

Looks like database corruption to me, but I am not sure. Last error happens when there is already a file that pacman tries to install (Could also be packaging error, where package doesn't state conflicts properly.). I am not sure how to fix that though.

Edit: Can we also see your /etc/pacman.conf?

Last edited by yasar11732 (2011-06-30 18:27:17)

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Yo Dawg, I heard you likes patches, so I have created a patch for your patch, so you can patch your patches before you patch.

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: [SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

Read stickies in Newbie Corner.

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Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

pooldoo

Member

Registered: 2008-06-07

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

Thanks, I guess I have a "broken Pacman" so I'll study the sticky thread on the Newbie forum.  Here is my pacman.conf, just in case that helps.

#
# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
# If upgrades are available for these packages they will be asked for first
SyncFirst   = pacman
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl %u > %o

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg   =
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
#NoExtract   =

# Misc options (all disabled by default)
#NoPassiveFtp
#UseSyslog
#ShowSize
#UseDelta
#TotalDownload

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#   - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages
#     have identical names, regardless of version number
#   - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
#
# Repository entries are of the format:
#       [repo-name]
#       Server = ServerName
#       Include = IncludePath
#
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
#

# Testing is disabled by default.  To enable, uncomment the following
# two lines.  You can add preferred servers immediately after the header,
# and they will be used before the default mirrors.
#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

[eee]
Server = http://code.toofishes.net/packages/eee

pooldoo

Member

Registered: 2008-06-07

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

I fixed with:

pacman -Sf binutils

...and then the regular -Syu went well.

Not sure why /var/lib/pacman/local/binutils-2.21-8/desc was missing.  I'm guessing I could have just replaced the desc file if I had a backup of it and things would have been fine, but this worked great.