Failing to read AUR data

[fhdk]

Previously reported as issue #1

The app fails to read AUR data

pacman version

 $ pacman --version

 .--.                  Pacman v7.0.0 - libalpm v15.0.0
/ _.-' .-.  .-.  .-.   Copyright (C) 2006-2024 Pacman Development Team
\  '-. '-'  '-'  '-'   Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Judd Vinet
 '--'
                       This program may be freely redistributed under
                       the terms of the GNU General Public License.

pamac version

 $ pamac --version
pamac-cli 11.7.1  -  libpamac 11.7.0
Copyright © 2019-2024 Guillaume Benoit
This program is free software, you can redistribute it under the terms of the GNU GPL.

manjaro branch

 $ pacman-mirrors -G
unstable

search

 $ pamac search visual-studio-code-bin
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory

force refresh

 $ pamac update --aur --dry-run --force-refresh
Preparing...
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Nothing to do.
Transaction successfully finished.

using sudo to force refresh

 $ sudo pamac update --aur --dry-run --force-refresh
Warning: Building packages as dynamic user
Warning: Setting build directory to /var/cache/pamac
Preparing...
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Nothing to do.
Transaction successfully finished.

db location

No matter how one attempts to retrieve the database it will not work

 $ ls /var/lib/pacman/sync -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  141877 22 jan 17:28 core.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8524755 23 jan 02:50 extra.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  143986 23 jan 02:50 multilib.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    1865 20 jan 04:13 sublime-text.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     543 20 jan 04:13 sublime-text.db.sig

pacman package info

 $ pamac info pacman
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Name                  : pacman
Version               : 7.0.0.r10.ga2d0293-1
Description           : A library-based package manager with dependency support
URL                   : https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/
Licenses              : GPL-2.0-or-later
Repository            : core
Installed Size        : 5,1 MB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : bash coreutils curl gawk gettext glibc gnupg gpgme grep
                        libarchive pacman-mirrorlist systemd
Optional Dependencies : base-devel: required to use makepkg [Installed]
                        perl-locale-gettext: translation support in makepkg-template
Required By           : arch-install-scripts archlinux-keyring autogit base
                        base-devel libpamac manjaro-check-repos manjaro-keyring
                        mhwd packagekit pacman-contrib pacseek paru-bin pyalpm
                        repoctl yay
Optional For          : --
Provides              : libalpm.so=15-64
Replaces              : --
Conflicts With        : --
Packager              : Philip Mueller <[email protected]>
Build Date            : søn 27 okt 2024 07:15:28 CET
Install Date          : <irrelevant>
Install Reason        : Installed as a dependency for another package
Validated By          : Signature
Backup files          : /etc/pacman.conf /etc/makepkg.conf
                        /etc/makepkg.conf.d/rust.conf

pamac-cli package info

 $ pamac info pamac-cli
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Name                  : pamac-cli
Version               : 11.7.1-1
Description           : A CLI Package Manager based on libalpm with AUR support
URL                   : https://github.com/manjaro/pamac-cli
Licenses              : GPL-3.0-or-later
Repository            : extra
Installed Size        : 180,7 kB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : libpamac>=11.7.0
Optional Dependencies : plymouth: offline upgrade support [Installed]
Required By           : --
Optional For          : --
Provides              : --
Replaces              : --
Conflicts With        : pamac<=7.3.4-2
Packager              : Mark Wagie <[email protected]>
Build Date            : man 11 nov 2024 18:00:36 CET
Install Date          : <irrelevant>
Install Reason        : Explicitly installed
Validated By          : Signature
Backup files          : --

libpamac package info

 $ pamac info libpamac
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Name                  : libpamac
Version               : 11.7.0-2
Description           : Library for Pamac package manager based on libalpm
URL                   : https://github.com/manjaro/libpamac
Licenses              : GPL-3.0-or-later
Repository            : extra
Installed Size        : 4,0 MB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : appstream dbus-glib git glib2 json-glib libalpm.so=15
                        libsoup3 pacman-mirrors polkit
Optional Dependencies : --
Required By           : pamac-cli
Optional For          : --
Provides              : libpamac.so=11 pamac-common libpamac-appstream.so=11
                        libpamac-appstream-plugin libpamac-aur.so=11
                        libpamac-aur-plugin
Replaces              : pamac-common
Conflicts With        : libpamac-aur-plugin libpamac-appstream-plugin
Packager              : Mark Wagie <[email protected]>
Build Date            : ons 04 dec 2024 19:43:10 CET
Install Date          : <irrelevant>
Install Reason        : Installed as a dependency for another package
Validated By          : Signature
Backup files          : /etc/pamac.conf

[guinux]

Did you try pamac update --aur --force-refresh without --dry-run ?

[fhdk]

No, I did not.

You are right - if I leave out --dry-run, the database is refreshed - but I also have to abort the action since I only want to search the database.

I often use pamac for search and info and do not want any updates to be executed.

I see the --dry-run argument as complimenting the pacman --print and see it package/build related.

It would be preferable if --dry-run would download the database and thus provide an updated view of the transactions that would have been executed.

I think an option e.g. --db-only which only downloads the databases thus mimicking pacman's --sync --refresh would be an improvement

pamac update --db-only

[fhdk]

 $ pamac --version
pamac-cli 11.7.3  -  libpamac 11.7.2
Copyright © 2019-2024 Guillaume Benoit
This program is free software, you can redistribute it under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Just today I wanted to test build waydroid so to ensure the metadata was up-to-date

14:22:36 ○ [fh@tiger] ~
 $ sudo pamac upgrade --force-refresh --aur
Warning: Building packages as dynamic user
Warning: Setting build directory to /var/cache/pamac
Preparing...
Synchronizing package databases...
Refreshing core.db...                                                                                                                   
Refreshing extra.db...                                                                                                                  
Refreshing multilib.db...                                                                                                               
Refreshing sublime-text.db...                                                                                                           
Refreshing nixrepo.db...                                                                                                                
Refreshing core.files...                                                                                                                
Refreshing extra.files...                                                                                                               
Refreshing multilib.files...                                                                                                            
Refreshing sublime-text.files...                                                                                                        
Refreshing nixrepo.files...                                                                                                             
Refreshing AUR...                                                                                                                       
Failed to synchronize AUR database                                                                                                      
Nothing to do.
Transaction successfully finished.

Then another test - with a different result - using the internal polkit authentication

 $ pamac upgrade --force-refresh --aur
Preparing...
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.manjaro.pamac.commit ====
Authentication is required to install, update, or remove packages
Authenticating as: FH (fh)
Password: 
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====
Synchronizing package databases...
Refreshing core.db...                                                                                                                   
Refreshing extra.db...                                                                                                                  
Refreshing multilib.db...                                                                                                               
Refreshing sublime-text.db...                                                                                                           
Refreshing nixrepo.db...                                                                                                                
Refreshing core.files...                                                                                                                
Refreshing extra.files...                                                                                                               
Refreshing multilib.files...                                                                                                            
Refreshing sublime-text.files...                                                                                                        
Refreshing nixrepo.files...                                                                                                             
Refreshing AUR...                                                                                                                       
Nothing to do.                                                                                                                          
Transaction successfully finished.

So there is something fishy with the AUR metadata file