[solved] error: 'kernel26': not found in sync db

Question

I'm having a strange issue - pacman -S kernel26 returns:
kernel26 package not found, searching for group...
error: 'kernel26': not found in sync db
pacman -Sg base:
pacman -Sg base
base libfetch
base shadow
package databases are up to date, tried different mirrors.
pacman -Sy:
:: Synchronizing package databases...
testing is up to date
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
here's my pacman.conf:
# /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 = wesnoth
#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
#[kdemod-core]
#Server = http://mirrors.igprolin-online.org/pub/kdemod/core/i686
#[kdemod-extragear]
#Server = http://mirrors.igprolin-online.org/pub/kdemod/extragear/i686
[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
Last edited by schuay (2009-04-23 10:12:42)

Answer 1

schuay wrote:thanks, that helped.
i had to do a couple of hard reboots recently, could that have been the cause?
Yes, I think your local pacman database was corrupted - some files were probably missing. For instance on ext4 filesystem, it can take 30 seconds (by default) until the data is written from cache to the disk. If you hard reboot during that time, the files can go missing.