I’ve been in the middle of a big project, and reluctant to update my Arch Linux rig, even though I usually keep my system updated very regularly. Nearing 400 packages to be updated, and the project in question finished and deployed, today was the day.
While not always the case, going too long without updating a system can cause some problems. Usually in the form of a package being renamed, or replaced, which can stop an upgrade cold until it’s resolved.
This problem, the first of three separate issues I ran into while upgrading was an error related to rpm-tools and rpmextract being in conflict.
These are packages that were installed at some point along the way. Probably related to an RPM-based package I installed via the Arch User Repository (AUR). I’m not very familiar with the packages themselves, so I went through answering the Remove rpmextract? [y/N] both positively and negatively.
:: rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2 and rpmextract-1.0-9 are in conflict. Remove rpmextract? [y/N] y
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: installing alsa-lib (1.2.12-1) breaks dependency 'alsa-lib=1.2.11' required by lib32-alsa-lib
:: installing alsa-plugins (1:1.2.12-1) breaks dependency 'alsa-plugins=1:1.2.7.1' required by lib32-alsa-plugins
-> Failed to install layer, rolling up to next layer.error:error installing repo packages
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
multilib is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace dbus-python with extra/python-dbus? [Y/n]
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2 and rpmextract-1.0-9 are in conflict. Remove rpmextract? [y/N]
error: unresolvable package conflicts detected
error: failed to prepare transaction (conflicting dependencies)
:: rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2 and rpmextract-1.0-9 are in conflict
-> error installing repo packages
error installing repo packagesFocus on the afflicted packages
Not only did I get prompted twice, but it neither answer moved me any closer to the finish line. Typically in these situations, I’ll stop trying to upgrade the entire system, and will focus on the packages that are giving me crap. Since it seemed like rpm-tools was attempting to replace rpmextract I went ahead and tried to install rpm-tools by itself.
% yay -S rpm-tools
Sync Explicit (1): rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2 and rpmextract-1.0-9 are in conflict. Remove rpmextract? [y/N] Y
Packages (3) rpm-sequoia-1.6.0-1 rpmextract-1.0-9 [removal] rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2
Total Download Size: 4.83 MiB
Total Installed Size: 14.49 MiB
Net Upgrade Size: 14.49 MiB
:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
:: Retrieving packages...
rpm-tools-4.19.1.1-2-x86_64 4.0 MiB 9.20 MiB/s 00:00 [#####################################################################] 100%
rpm-sequoia-1.6.0-1-x86_64 825.8 KiB 10.9 MiB/s 00:00 [#####################################################################] 100%
Total (2/2) 4.8 MiB 7.99 MiB/s 00:01 [#####################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking keys in keyring [#####################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking package integrity [#####################################################################] 100%
(2/2) loading package files [#####################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking for file conflicts [#####################################################################] 100%
(3/3) checking available disk space [#####################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) removing rpmextract [#####################################################################] 100%
(1/2) installing rpm-sequoia [#####################################################################] 100%
(2/2) installing rpm-tools [#####################################################################] 100%
rpm-tools installs RedHat package manager for you.
It is useful for those who wants to create/modify RPM files.
But do not use rpm-tools to install RedHat packages at your ArchLinux machine.
It will break your system!
You will need to go back to Arch wiki and read the installation guide again.
You've been warned!
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
I received the same prompt asking if I’d like to remove rpmextract and I told it to do so. At this point, everything moved forward with installing rpm-tools and I was able to proceed with upgrading my entire system.
As mentioned, this was the first of three issues that I ran into. I’ll be covering the other issues in the coming weeks, as each one required it’s own unique solution.
