[Solved] pacman -Syu fails because of libreoffice conflict

Question

I haven't done a system update for a little while - now when I attempt pacman -Syu, I get a failure due to libreoffice conflicts:
[peter@desktop AURBuilds]$ sudo pacman -Syu
:: Synchronising package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
multilib is up to date
error: failed retrieving file 'archVMrepo.db' from repo.ktz.me : Connection timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed to update archVMrepo (download library error)
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace libreoffice-still-base with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-calc with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-common with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-draw with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-gnome with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-impress with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-kde4 with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-math with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-postgresql-connector with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
:: Replace libreoffice-still-writer with extra/libreoffice-still? [Y/n]
resolving dependencies...
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: freetype2 will be installed before its harfbuzz dependency
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: lib32-harfbuzz will be installed before its lib32-freetype2 dependency
looking for inter-conflicts...
:: libreoffice-still-sdk and libreoffice-still-sdk-doc are in conflict. Remove libreoffice-still-sdk-doc? [y/N]
error: unresolvable package conflicts detected
error: failed to prepare transaction (conflicting dependencies)
:: libreoffice-still-sdk and libreoffice-still-sdk-doc are in conflict
[peter@desktop AURBuilds]$
How do I resolve this?
Last edited by PeterBell (2015-02-08 02:18:43)

Answer 1

Trilby wrote:What are you doing?  Wine was never a problem.
I'm sorry - I was trying to help myself by following the errors, as reported.  It seemed that my problem stemmed from lib32-harfbuzz and lib32-freetype2, so I was attempting to remove those.  However, wine was dependent on them so had to be removed first.
I told you want needed to be done.  If you ignore provided advice and instead do other random things (without actually specifying what you are doing) then no one can help you.
Indeed, your posting did point me in the right direction, but did not appear until after I had posted about my experiment with wine.  Wine is no great loss, anyway - I've never managed to achieve anything useful with it!
As you indicated, my problems were resolved by updating package-query:
yaourt package-query
Edit: In my searching, I did come across advice to use pacaur instead of yaourt - I'm not sure whether this would have made any difference in my case.
My analysis, wrongly or rightly, is this:
1) AUR packages (some?) appear to list pacman version as a dependency.  "pacman -Syu" was attempting to update itself to 4.2 which broke the dependency (<4.2), even though 4.1.x was running at the time - there's a recipe for confusion!  This was resolved by rebuilding package-query before updating the rest of the system, because the latest version has updated the pacman dependency.
2) lib32-harfbuzz and lib32-freetype2 (both AUR packages?) were in conflict - they cannot (must not) be dependent on each other.  This was resolved by pulling later versions during the rebuild of package-query.
3) The libreoffice problem was not an issue.  My mistake was that I ignored a lifetime of experience working in IT - I concentrated on the last-reported error rather than the first!  All I can say in my defence is that eight years of retirement must have addled my brain!
In short, two, unrelated, errors, conflated with another, relatively insignificant, error message, led me on a wild goose chase.
I thank you for your wise counsel!
Last edited by PeterBell (2015-02-08 02:21:24)