[SOLVED] Missing pacman files?

Question

While trying to "pacman -Syu" I get the message:
error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/binutils-2.21-8/desc
Error message repeats too many times to count.  I am then prompted with:
Proceed with installation?
...I answered YES, and packages were downloaded, but failed to upgrade, displaying the following multiple times:
error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/local/binutils-2.21-8/desc
... then
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
binutils: /usr/bin/ar exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/as exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/c++filt exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/elfedit exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/ld.gold exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/nm exists in filesystem
binutils: /usr/bin/strings exists in filesystem
errors occurred, no packages were updated.
What happened?  How do I proceed?
Thanks.
Last edited by pooldoo (2011-07-19 22:05:11)

Answer 1

Thanks, I guess I have a "broken Pacman" so I'll study the sticky thread on the Newbie forum.  Here is my pacman.conf, just in case that helps.
# /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
[eee]
Server = http://code.toofishes.net/packages/eee