How to I fix a partial update?

Hi all!

I unfortunately appear to have partially updated my system by attempting to downgrade my kernel from 5.13.13-1 to 5.10.61-1. I rebooted my system before I realized the mistake, and my original kernel is still the operative version. When attempting to update the system itself, despite numerous mirror refreshes, I’m left with the following error: “error: failed to synchronize all databases (unable to lock database)”. My pacman-mirrors.conf is blank excluding text prefixed by “#” or “##”.

How might I restore the system to a fully functional and healthy state? Is this possible?

And yes…yes, partial updates are not supported under any circumstances, so I’ve heard. However, I’m not sure how this is phrase is to be interpreted. Can it not be fixed, or is it just that articles including this phrase are not speaking in reference to systems afflicted with this?

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response.

/etc/pacman-mirrors.conf state:

##
## /etc/pacman-mirrors.conf
##

## Branch Pacman should use (stable, testing, unstable)
# Branch = stable

## Generation method
## 1) rank   - rank mirrors depending on their access time
## 2) random - randomly generate the output mirrorlist
# Method = rank

## Filename to use when ranking mirrors
## The file must be present in core repo
# TestFile = core.db.tar.gz

## Define protocols and priority
##   separated by comma 'https,http' or 'http,https'
## ATM available protocols are: http, https, ftp
## Not specifying a protocol will ban the protocol from being used
## If a mirror has more than one protocol defined only the first is written to the mirrorlist
## Empty means all in reversed alphabetic order
# Protocols = 

## When set to False - all certificates are accepted.
## Use only if you fully trust all ssl-enabled mirrors.
# SSLVerify = True

You can delete the lock file with sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/db.lck and then to a full sync: pacman -Syyuu

The y updates the databases, the second y forces the update. The u updates your packages, the second u also allows downgrades of packages.

Afterwards, you’re in a supported state.

3 Likes

Thank you so, so much. Trying now. God bless you XD

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