Perhaps of interest :
I had to try several times to download the update - it failed various times due to very low speeds âless than 1byte/sâ so perhaps connection problems.
Some packages downloaded, some wouldnât, and I just relaunched the process through the apply button - some packages would download, and I would again encounter same problem downloading some packages - not the same ones.
I did a ârefresh databasesâ before continuing at some point, because it seemed to be a server or connection error, but in the end as you see, Iâm still stuck.
Iâm now trying sudo pacman -Syu and while Iâm still able to resume downloads, I still get the same problem failed retrieving file and Iâm simply repeating the command to retrieve those packages. - itâs never the same one, and it gets downloaded on the next run of the command.
I saw this line, that perhaps explains the origin of the problems :
warning: too many errors from mirror.leitecastro.com, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
It probably was the problem : the update went through. I still do not understand why the pamac GUI did not work around it, so perhaps it would be worth the time to look into it.
Your post has been moved to a dedicated topic as the issue(s) youâre facing seem to have little to do with Manjaro updates, and everything to do with poor maintenance of your system.
To start with, please work your way through the Known Issues and Solutions section included with every Update Announcement.
Please provide system information as described (below).
Iâm sure someone will help as soon as they are able.
Regards.
Update Announcements
The Update Announcements contain important information and a Known Issues and Solutions section that should generally be checked before posting a request for support.
System Information
While information from *-fetch type apps might be fine for someone wishing to buy your computer, for Support purposes more indepth information is usually needed;
Itâs best to ask your system directly.
Output of the inxi command with appropriate parameters will achieve this (naturally, formatted according to forum requirements) and will generally be more useful for those wishing to help:
Be prepared to provide more information and outputs from other commands whenever asked. Itâs equally important to provide as much actionable information as possible in your first post, rather than simply indicating there is a problem.
however, I already was able to overcome this issue by running sudo pacman -Syu multiple times, getting past the downloading issues. It probably was a defective mirror, as mentioned in one edit I made to track my attempts to solve this.
I had to run the command multiple times, but in the end, the update went through. I do not understand why pamac GUI wasnât able to solve this, and why it was stuck on dependencies problems.
Iâll try to restart the computer, to see if everything works normally.
You have a mirror list - not only one, but usually at least 3 or five (Iâd need to look).
When one is too slow to respond after a few tries, the next one in the list is used - but that takes time.
When you notice such slow download speeds - refresh the mirror list.
That is the way such problems are handled - itâs similar with your DNS servers, of which you most likely have not only one, but two.
The second one is used when the first one doesnât respond - but only after some time.
Better refresh the mirror list from time to time. sudo pacman-mirrors -c Germany sudo pacman-mirrors -f
Respectfully, by assuming poor maintenance and that the problem is the user and nothing else, youâre not providing a great added value, and in this case youâre not even looking into what the problem was. That being said, Iâm always grateful to the community and to the devâs for the time and effort they put into this project. Iâm always open to be taught something new, and I wonât shy away from admitting mistakes when Iâm in the wrong.
It seems it was a mirror problem, and still, pamac reacting the way it did could be of interest for the devâs. Part of making this post was to give feedback, and I was able to muddle through in the end.
No partial updates were done. The update process went like this, roughly :
Through Pamac GUI, I launched the update process. The packages began downloading. However, the download of some packages didnât complete, reportedly because of speed lower than 1 byte/sec. The messages thus said that the operation had failed - required packages to actually update werenât available because of the download failure.
I launched the update process again, through the Pamac GUI, using the Apply button. the same thing happened, but the package that wouldnât download wasnât the same. I repeated this a few time, each time downloading some of the necessary packages, failing at one or two of them, same message of failure at the end.
At some point, between one of the tries, I went through the GUI and selected âUpdade Databasesâ, to see if something would get better. The operation concluded successfully
In the end, instead of a problem downloading, I got the output I pasted here, and that you quoted : Pamac couldnât proceed to the download because of dependencies issues.
I then went to the Konsole, and ran sudo pacman -Syu. No dependencies problem there, but I was met with the same problem I had earlier - some packages not downloading. I just ran the command again repeatedly, managing to download some packages, until I got the message about the mirror problem. On the next try, the downloads were all successful, and the update process went without a problem. All the packages were installed. I restarted the computer just to be sure, and still, no problem.
So, why Pamac had this dependency problem and refused to try to download again? Why did it only appear after a few tries? IDK. Since then, I ran the command provided to me to update the mirrors. For the rest, I have no clue why and how all this happened.
As @Nachlese said, you needed to refresh your mirrors.
- unable to satisfy dependency 'expat=2.7.1' required by lib32-expat
According to the output, youâve ignored expat (and a lot of other packages) so it couldnât update to 2.7.1, which was required by the updated version of lib32-expat.
Not sure why pacman and pamac would differ regarding the dependency issue.
Please check /etc/pacman.conf for ignored packages.
I think you are mistaken. Sure, pamac decided to ignore expat for the update process, for as you can see in the paste I provided, the update didnât go trough anyway.
Failed to prepare transaction:
could not satisfy dependencies:
So it would have ignored those packages, I donât know why, but since it failed to prepare the transaction, it aborted, and nothing was done.
Below, as you can see, nothing is set to ignore :
# /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
#GPGDir = /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
#HookDir = /etc/pacman.d/hooks/
HoldPkg = pacman glibc manjaro-system
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl -L -C - -f -o %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#CleanMethod = KeepInstalled
Architecture = auto
#IgnorePkg =
#IgnorePkg =
#IgnoreGroup =
#NoUpgrade =
#NoExtract =
# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
#NoProgressBar
CheckSpace
#VerbosePkgLists
ParallelDownloads = 4
DownloadUser = alpm
#DisableSandbox
#ILoveCandy
# By default, pacman accepts packages signed by keys that its local keyring
# trusts (see pacman-key and its man page), as well as unsigned packages.
SigLevel = Required DatabaseOptional
LocalFileSigLevel = Optional
#RemoteFileSigLevel = Required
# NOTE: You must run `pacman-key --init` before first using pacman; the local
# keyring can then be populated with the keys of all official Arch and Manjaro Linux
# packagers with `pacman-key --populate archlinux manjaro`.
#
# 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
# - URLs will have $arch replaced by the name of the architecture
#
# 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.
#
[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# If you want to run 32 bit applications on your x86_64 system,
# enable the multilib repositories as required here.
[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# An example of a custom package repository. See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs
And to be sure, I went to check installed packages, and I have expat 2.7.1-1 installed.
My mistake, I assumed that was what you were implying. And yes, I donât know why it decided to ignore those, hence the report. Anyway, itâs all solved for me. Thank you for your help!
Initially I did think you might have actually ignored them, but then you posted the description again and said pacman went through without dependency issues so I started thinking it might be an issue with pamac.
Unless Iâve forgotten a config file somewhere (which is possible as I donât use pamac), it does seem to be an issue with pamac.
Just a hypothetical, but itâs within the realm of possibility that a few presumed insignificant packages once downgraded, ignored or otherwise held back, can bite one in the backside further down the track when their dependencies fall out of sync.
Just for the record:
my intention was to give two alternative commands - two examples how it could be done - and then I forgot to write the word âorâ
in between the two.
I hope @Slug knows that only one is needed, that both actually achieve the same result in terms of creating a fresh mirror list and that these where just two examples.
It could be leftovers from past problems, indeed, Iâm too ignorant to judge but it does sound like a solid hypothesis.
Still, pamac was caught into them, while pacman wasnât. And the way the dependencies issues arose after multiple tries - so, suddenly a completely different outcome - is a big mystery.
Pamac has been known to fail.
Just a fact; Iâm not suggesting that was the case here.
pacman is the more reliable package management tool (for me), though as with anything, mileage may vary according to how itâs used. Those who avoid packages from the AUR, for example, might enjoy a better experience; but itâs all subjective.
The GUI app is the main attraction of Pamac (pamac-manager) but it is sometimes troublesome; the console version is generally not bad.
Of course, it helps to familiarise oneself with the most useful pamac commands (likewise with pacman); and to manage your mirrors.
The most common mistake I see (newer) users make is using sudo with pamac - this can quickly cause grief further down the track - only pacman requires sudo, and even then, not for everything.
Those with an aptitude for learning will generally find Manjaro a pleasure to use; but itâs not for everyone. There are some that donât learn much about Manjaro, despite using it for some time, and then there are some who donât want to learn. Human nature, I guess.
Iâm glad your issue is solved for now, and that you find those previous links useful for reference.
