[While updating] Error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)

[terribletom]

 error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
gmp: /usr/include/gmp.h exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/include/gmpxx.h exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmp.so exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmp.so.10 exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmp.so.10.4.1 exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmpxx.so exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmpxx.so.4 exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/libgmpxx.so.4.6.1 exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/pkgconfig/gmp.pc exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/lib/pkgconfig/gmpxx.pc exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/share/info/gmp.info-1.gz exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/share/info/gmp.info-2.gz exists in filesystem
gmp: /usr/share/info/gmp.info.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-icon exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-menu exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-email exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-icon-resource exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-mime exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-open exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-screensaver exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/bin/xdg-settings exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/licenses/xdg-utils/LICENSE exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-desktop-icon.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-desktop-menu.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-email.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-icon-resource.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-mime.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-open.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-screensaver.1.gz exists in filesystem
xdg-utils: /usr/share/man/man1/xdg-settings.1.gz exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

[leledumbo]

Let’s check first:

$ pacman -Qo /usr/include/gmp.h
$ pacman -Qo /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-icon

[terribletom]

@leledumbo

pacman -Qo /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-icon

No package owns /usr/include/gmp.h

No package owns /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-icon

[leledumbo]

@terribletom

No package owns /usr/include/gmp.h

No package owns /usr/bin/xdg-desktop-icon

Then it must be a leftover from previous broken installation or so. In this case, if you only update official packages:

$ sudo pacman -Syu --overwrite '*'

[linux-aarhus]

The more in-depth explanation

Update or package installation returns “Failed to commit transaction (conflicting files); FILENAME exists in filesystem”

I can’t install or update a package because I get (something like) this: error: could not prepare transaction error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) libname: /insert/file/name/here exists in filesystem Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded. Why is this happening? The package manager, pacman, has detected an unexpected file already exists on disk. By design it will not overwrite files that already exist. This is a design feature, not a flaw - package managers are des…

[terribletom]

It worked… Thank you…