Cannot upgrade an old install gpg key issues

I’m having trouble updating a system that hasn’t been attended for over a year, there’s dependency problems and outdated GPG keys.
error: key "428F7ECC7117F726" could not be looked up remotely
error: required key missing from keyring
I tried some of the recommendations I found in the forum for refreshing keys and removing old dependencies, but I’m still stuck:

[fraum-mnjr crew]# sudo pacman -Syuvv
Root      : /
Conf File : /etc/pacman.conf
DB Path   : /var/lib/pacman/
Cache Dirs: /var/cache/pacman/pkg/  
Hook Dirs : /usr/share/libalpm/hooks/  /etc/pacman.d/hooks/  
Lock File : /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
Log File  : /var/log/pacman.log
GPG Dir   : /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
Targets   : None
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 community is up to date
 multilib is up to date
:: Some packages should be upgraded first...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (3) archlinux-keyring-20210110-1  manjaro-keyring-20201216-1
             manjaro-system-20210612-1

Total Installed Size:  1.48 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.39 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(3/3) checking keys in keyring                     [######################] 100%
downloading required keys...
error: key "6D42BDD116E0068F" could not be looked up remotely
error: required key missing from keyring
error: failed to commit transaction (unexpected error)
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace geoclue2 with extra/geoclue? [Y/n] y
:: Replace hunspell-en_US with extra/hunspell-en_us? [Y/n] y
:: Replace intel-tbb with extra/tbb? [Y/n] y
:: Replace lib32-libcanberra-pulse with multilib/lib32-libcanberra? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libcanberra-pulse with extra/libcanberra? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libdmx with extra/xorgproto-transfer? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libmagick with extra/imagemagick? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libsystemd with core/systemd-libs? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libutil-linux with core/util-linux-libs? [Y/n] y
:: Replace libwbclient with extra/smbclient? [Y/n] y
:: Replace manjaro-xfce-gtk3-settings with community/manjaro-xfce-settings? [Y/n] y
warning: mhwd-nvidia: local (1:415.27-1) is newer than core (465.31-1)
:: Replace pamac with extra/pamac-gtk? [Y/n] y
:: Replace pygobject-devel with extra/python-gobject? [Y/n] y
:: Replace pygobject2-devel with community/python2-gobject2? [Y/n] y
:: Replace python-dbus with extra/dbus-python? [Y/n] y
:: Replace python-dbus-common with extra/dbus-python? [Y/n] y
:: Replace python-xdg with extra/python-pyxdg? [Y/n] y
:: Replace qtkeychain with extra/qtkeychain-qt5? [Y/n] y
:: Replace steam-devices with community/game-devices-udev? [Y/n] y
:: Replace xorg-mkfontdir with extra/xorg-mkfontscale? [Y/n] y
resolving dependencies...
:: There are 2 providers available for libgdk-3.so=0-64:
:: Repository extra
   1) gtk3
:: Repository community
   2) gtk3-typeahead

Enter a number (default=1): 2
looking for conflicting packages...
:: gtk3-typeahead and gtk3-classic are in conflict (gtk3). Remove gtk3-classic? [y/N] y
:: python-pyqt5 and pyqt5-common are in conflict. Remove pyqt5-common? [y/N] y
:: dbus-python and python2-dbus are in conflict. Remove python2-dbus? [y/N] y
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: bashrc-manjaro will be installed before its bash dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: harfbuzz will be installed before its freetype2 dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: libglvnd will be installed before its mesa dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: smbclient will be installed before its cifs-utils dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: usbmuxd will be installed before its libimobiledevice dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: lib32-keyutils will be installed before its lib32-krb5 dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: lib32-harfbuzz will be installed before its lib32-freetype2 dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: lib32-mesa will be installed before its lib32-libglvnd dependency

Packages (1250) a52dec-0.7.4-11  aalib-1.4rc5-14  accountsservice-0.6.55-3
                acl-2.3.1-1  acpi-1.7-3  acpid-2.0.32-2
                adapta-maia-theme-3.94.0.149-2
                adobe-source-code-pro-fonts-2.038ro+1.058it+1.018var-1
               //
               // ultra long package list here
               //
                zstd-1.5.0-1  zvbi-0.2.35-4  zxing-cpp-1.2.0-1
                archlinux-keyring-20210110-1  manjaro-keyring-20201216-1
                manjaro-system-20210612-1

Total Installed Size:  7190.40 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      1326.38 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(1227/1227) checking keys in keyring               [######################] 100%
downloading required keys...
error: key "428F7ECC7117F726" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "7258734B41C31549" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "6D42BDD116E0068F" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "3B94A80E50A477C7" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "150C200743ED46D8" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "5A45B06B81CAB876" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "45A650E2638C536D" could not be looked up remotely
error: key "9D4C5AA15426DA0A" could not be looked up remotely
error: required key missing from keyring
error: failed to commit transaction (unexpected error)
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Maybe some of the typical recommendations are outdated… Can someone help me out here?

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Have you tried to update the keys?
By the way, getting some etropy may help too…to get that, do a find in the console of the whole filesystem, I assume this is a new install, so some entropy might be called for…
:rainbow: Melissa :rainbow:

So, new situation - this system isn’t booting anymore.
@Strit, I took your post to mean I should apply the solution from the thread that you posted.
In my case, that meant

  • Create ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf file, and add:
keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com
  • Add the same to /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/gpg.conf for pacman-key to also use the server.

Then, I ran
gpg --recv-key THEKEYTHATCOULDNTRETRIEVE
for all the keys showing up in my command. After that,

archlinux-keyring-20210110-1  manjaro-keyring-20201216-1 manjaro-system-20210612-1

were successfully installed. I don’t remember if the complete upgrade went through though. I think while it was still in progress, I noticed that the desktop wasn’t reacting anymore, I couldn’t launch applications from panel or menu. Firefox and terminal were still responsive. I tried launching Thunar in the terminal and got some error regarding Gtk and it crashed.
I kinda panicked and desire to make the problem go away became overwhelming . I hard powered down the system. Shouldn’t have, I know :woozy_face:

I mentioned before having some dependency problems: I solved those before the keys issue by removing the packages the wanted the outdated dependencies, which where, I think gtk-classic, another gtk package, and something to do with Python 2.
=> I’m mentioning it because I think this might have caused the Gtk errors when launching Thunar/other apps and unresponsive desktop.

Status now is, I can get to Grub, but then boot process gets stuck.
It looks like this:
https://imgur.com/a/RgcWIK9
after that, the screen continues to blink like this:
https://imgur.com/a/POwf7Ov
Here’s a still of that last blinking screen:
https://imgur.com/a/Y5YfU9s

Should I make a new thread? I can’t tell if there’s really a connection to the original problems (outdated keys, dependencies) or it’s a freakish coincidence…

No, this is an old installation on

Thanks for the link, this is the single most important post (on the old forum, sadly) that I can never seem to find when I need it.

1 Like

Therein lies your problem. Rolling release distros are meant to keep updated. You may be better suited with a fixed release distro like Debian, Fedora, etc.

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Absolutely. May be the next step to take after I recover this system. I just like Manjaro, Xfce flies on old hardware, so I installed that. It’s not my machine though, the owner doens’t know how to update a system and has a hard time getting used to new software…

Sorry, I’m just bumping this topic, as it’s rather urgent - hoping to get some more attention :grimacing:

is /home on a separate partition? If so, you may be in luck. Basically, the new installer lets you drop the new install IN the system partition then it finds and integrates the /home partition. No data loss. How cool is that?

Don’t think so, as I don’t usually do that. Is there maybe a way to make sure from the GRUB command prompt - it’s the only usable thing I’m left with?
Can’t I look at the partitions from BIOS?

Boot a live system. Backup your data from that and use a fixed release distro for such usecases in the future. :wink:

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Debian-based would be a good idea, I guess? Otherwise, any recommendations?

Debian stable XFCE is probably your best bet. Not knowing how to update a system is serious security issue though. Hopefully you can set it to automatically update.

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