Error message with upgrading pacman

Question

Hi,
I get the following on every attempt to upgrade:
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
:: The following packages should be upgraded first :
    pacman 
:: Do you want to cancel the current operation
:: and upgrade these packages now? [Y/n] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: pacman-color: requires pacman=3.3.3
Is this anything to do with
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=95007
Or, in any case, what should I do?
Thanks.

Answer 1

With the output given, It's still not clear what the error is:
- Do I have an older version of pacman <3.3.3 and need it to install it to update pacman-color, but I need to update pacman-color first to be able to update my old pacman package? [a recursive conflict of dependencies, the first thing I thought reading the output].
- Does pacman-color needs version 3.3.3 of pacman (which I, the user, have installed) and I'm trying to update to a newer version of pacman (which is not listed)? [the actual case] If so, why doesn't it advise me to remove pacman-color first? or why doesn't it offer me the option to remove it on the fly (as it does when installing other packages that are in conflict with currently installed packages)?
I understand why dlandmj had a confusion and think that it's because of an incoherent behavior in the interface: one expects the package manager to behave in a way similar to those that had shown in other circumstances, e.g. when resolving conflicts while installing new software, the option to remove conflicting packages or to desist of installing the new package is given; but the package manager behaves in another way: it states that there is a dependencies error, doesn't explain which is the version of the package installed, which is the version of the new package to be installed nor does it said where is the problem (in the new package or in the older package), it only states a version with a = sign preceding it, and then it exits.
Someone can argue that the = symbol states at the same time that it IS the version required AND the version of the package already installed in the system. If that is the case, I think that it's way too much knowledge to be expected from a casual or even frequent-but-not-expert pacman user.
Last edited by dcontard (2010-06-27 21:29:00)