Problems with Joplin update (AUR)

Hello *

I thought I understood the copy command, but apparently not.
My Joplin-Update (AUR) from 3.3.12-1 to 3.3.13-1 went wrong.

The problem this cp commant in PKGBUILD

mkdir -p "${pkgdir}/usr/lib" 
    cp -vr dist/linux-unpacked/resources "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/${pkgname} 

The dissolved copy-command:

  'dist/linux-unpacked/resources/' -> '/var/tmp/pamac-build-ekke/joplin/pkg/joplin-desktop/usr/lib/joplin-desktop/' 

The error from build:

 'dist/linux-unpacked/resources/package-type' -> '/var/tmp/pamac-build-ekke/joplin/pkg/joplin-desktop/usr/lib/joplin-desktop/package-type'
    cp: Zugriff auf 'dist/linux-unpacked/resources/package-type' nicht möglich: Ist kein Verzeichnis
    ==> FEHLER: Ein Fehler geschah in package_joplin-desktop().
        Breche ab... 

And right, in the target directory ist package-type a Directory !
Source

 ls -l /var/tmp/pamac-build-ekke/joplin/src/joplin-3.3.13/packages/app-desktop/dist/linux-unpacked/resources
    insgesamt 352304
    -rw-r--r-- 1 ekke ekke 360738627  1. Jul 08:02 app.asar
    drwxr-xr-x 3 ekke ekke      4096  1. Jul 08:02 app.asar.unpacked
    -rw-r--r-- 1 ekke ekke        97  1. Jul 08:02 app-update.yml
    drwxr-xr-x 8 ekke ekke      4096  1. Jul 08:02 build
    -rw-r--r-- 1 ekke ekke         3  1. Jul 08:02 package-type 

Target

 ls -l /var/tmp/pamac-build-ekke/joplin/pkg/joplin-desktop/usr/lib/joplin-desktop/
    insgesamt 352304
    -rw-r--r-- 1 ekke ekke 360738627  1. Jul 08:04 app.asar
    drwxr-xr-x 3 ekke ekke      4096  1. Jul 08:04 app.asar.unpacked
    -rw-r--r-- 1 ekke ekke        97  1. Jul 08:04 app-update.yml
    drwxr-xr-x 8 ekke ekke      4096  1. Jul 08:04 build
    drwxr-xr-x 2 ekke ekke      4096  1. Jul 08:04 package-type 

Mod edit: Please use proper formatting: How to format :footprints:
Why?
Have you any tip? How can I fix the cause?
Or what is the reason?

pamac install joplin-bin

Works fine here.

Otherwise use the official Joplin-appimage.

2 Likes

Welcome to the Manjaro community @ecweiss

Your post is not easy to read due to the lack of formatting. Could you please edit your post and format all terminal output as code by either highlighting each section of output and selecting the </> button at the top of the editor, or by placing three backticks ``` on the lines before and after each section of output?

I just tried to build joplin-desktop on my Testing branch machine using the command:

pamac build joplin-desktop

and the build failed due to the version of nodejs installed on my machine, which is the one in Manjaro’s repo, being v24, when the joplin-desktop AUR package requires nodejs to be less than v23:

Building joplin...
==> Making package: joplin 3.3.13-1 (Tue 01 Jul 2025 16:28:42)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Missing dependencies:
  -> nodejs<23
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> ERROR: Could not resolve all dependencies.

However, I was able to install the precompiled binary of joplin-bin & open it without any issues:

Output of pamac build joplin-bin
pamac build joplin-bin
Preparing...
Checking joplin-bin dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Checking inter-conflicts...

To build (1):
  joplin-bin  3.3.13-1    AUR


Edit build files : [e] 
Apply transaction ? [e/y/N] y

Cloning joplin-bin build files...
Generating joplin-bin information...
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.manjaro.pamac.commit ====
Authentication is required to install, update, or remove packages
Authenticating as: Scott (scotty)
Password: 
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====

Building joplin-bin...
==> Making package: joplin-bin 3.3.13-1 (Tue 01 Jul 2025 16:47:54)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving sources...
  -> Downloading joplin-bin-3.3.13.deb...
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
100  124M  100  124M    0     0  9798k      0  0:00:13  0:00:13 --:--:-- 11.1M
==> Validating source_x86_64 files with md5sums...
    joplin-bin-3.3.13.deb ... Passed
==> Removing existing $srcdir/ directory...
==> Extracting sources...
  -> Extracting joplin-bin-3.3.13.deb with bsdtar
==> Starting prepare()...
==> Entering fakeroot environment...
==> Starting package()...
==> Tidying install...
  -> Removing libtool files...
  -> Purging unwanted files...
  -> Removing static library files...
  -> Stripping unneeded symbols from binaries and libraries...
  -> Compressing man and info pages...
==> Checking for packaging issues...
==> Creating package "joplin-bin"...
  -> Generating .PKGINFO file...
  -> Generating .BUILDINFO file...
  -> Generating .MTREE file...
  -> Compressing package...
==> Leaving fakeroot environment.
==> Finished making: joplin-bin 3.3.13-1 (Tue 01 Jul 2025 16:48:15)
==> Cleaning up...

Checking keyring...                                                                                                          [1/1]
Checking integrity...                                                                                                        [1/1]
Loading packages files...                                                                                                    [1/1]
Checking file conflicts...                                                                                                   [1/1]
Checking available disk space...                                                                                             [1/1]
Installing joplin-bin (3.3.13-1)...                                                                                          [1/1]
Running post-transaction hooks...
Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...                                                                                               [1/3]
Updating icon theme caches...                                                                                                [2/3]
Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...                                                                                 [3/3]
Transaction successfully finished.

The precompiled joplin-bin package does not need electron or require any other packages to build, so you might find that easier than having to compile the joplin-desktop package every time it is updated:

pamac info joplin-bin
Name                  : joplin-bin
Version               : 3.3.13-1
Description           : Note Taking App. Debian Package.
URL                   : https://github.com/laurent22/joplin
Licenses              : AGPL3
Repository            : AUR
Installed Size        : 680.4 MB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : --
Optional Dependencies : --
Make Dependencies     : --
Check Dependencies    : --
Required By           : --
Optional For          : --
Provides              : joplin
Replaces              : --
Conflicts With        : joplin-desktop joplin joplin-appimage joplin-beta joplin-electron joplin-beta-appimage
Packager              : Unknown Packager
Maintainer            : bacteriostat
First Submitted       : Thu 20 Mar 2025 18:56:42
Last Modified         : Sat 14 Jun 2025 16:46:50
Votes                 : 4
Out of Date           : --
Build Date            : Tue 01 Jul 2025 16:47:54
Install Date          : Tue 01 Jul 2025 16:48:16
Install Reason        : Explicitly installed
Validated By          : None
Backup files          : --
2 Likes

I am using joplin-desktop from AUR without any problems. I see I have nodejs-lts-iron (20.19.2-1) installed instead of nodejs (24.2.0-1) so that might be worth trying unless you need the newer nodejs for something else.

Hallo Ben,
danke für den Tip. Werde ich probieren.
cu
Ekke

Hello Scotty,
i have my post a little bit improved.
Sorry.
I had to switch nodejs to nodjs-lts when I updated to Joplin-3.3.12-1.
I’ll try it with joplin-bin.

cu
Ekke

Hey *,
As you suggested, I installed joplin-bin. It works great.
Unfortunately, I still don’t understand why the copy command turns a file into a directory. But I guess I’ll just have to live with it.
Thank you all very much.

cu
Ekke

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.