[SOLVED] Pacman "config file could not be read" error during Arch ins

Question

I've been attempting to get Arch setup for a while now, and after having some trouble with partitions, my wireless connecting, and setting up repos and mirrors, which the Wiki helped me solve, I've hit a bigger bump.  While updating the system using pacman as the Beginners Guide says to do, I get errors when I try to continue the update process as follows :
btw: I'm typing this on a laptop next to my computer
[root@McArch~]# pacman -Syu
error: config file /etc/pacman.d/core could not be read
error: config file /etc/pacman.d/extra could not be read
error: config file /etc/pacman.d/community could not be read
:: Synchronizing package databases . . .
error: failed to updated core (unexpected error)
error: failed to updated extra (unexpected error)
error: failed to updated community (unexpected error)
error: failed to synchronize any databases
Any tips as to whats going on?  I've tried to created said files, and even insert mirrors into the file, like in the /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist file but this doesn't seem to help
Last edited by Windfinder (2008-09-29 20:43:29)

Answer 1

Glad you got it working.
I'm not sure what happened in your install but I just finished using an old 2007.08 iso and pacman first starts out with /etc/pacman.d/core, etc/pacman.d/extra, /etc/pacman.d/community ... etc., but I never had your problem when I did the #pacman -Syu after initial install reboot.  The pacman update removes the above mentioned repos and replaces them with a single /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.  You must have messed up an initial config file somehow as I couldn't get the same errors you got.  It looks like you had your /etc/pacman.conf file messed up somehow and when you pointed it to the mirrorlist it could finally work properly.  I'll just include my /etc/pacman.conf file and /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist so you can compare.  NB*  these are from my x86_64 so for 32 bit machines i686 would replace x86_64 in the files.
# /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
HoldPkg = pacman glibc
# If upgrades are available for these packages they will be asked for first
SyncFirst = pacman
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl %u > %o
# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg =
#IgnoreGroup =
#NoUpgrade =
#NoExtract =
# Misc options (all disabled by default)
#NoPassiveFtp
#UseSyslog
#ShowSize
#UseDelta
#TotalDownload
# 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 $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
# Repository entries are of the format:
# [repo-name]
# Server = ServerName
# Include = IncludePath
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
# Testing is disabled by default. To enable, uncomment the following
# two lines. You can add preferred servers immediately after the header,
# and they will be used before the default mirrors.
#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[core]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[extra]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[community]
# Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# An example of a custom package repository. See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# Arch Linux repository mirrorlist
# North America
# - United States
Server = http://mirror.neotuli.net/arch/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://holmes.umflint.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://archlinux.unixheads.org/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://locke.suu.edu/linux/dist/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ftp.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/ArchLinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.rit.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.umoss.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
# - Canada
Server = ftp://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/archlinux/$repo/os/@carch
Well it was an interesting way to kill 30+ minutes.