VLC installation error

[lily]

Hii

I wanted to install vlc in pamac gui, this error:

Failed to commit transaction

conflicting files:
- python-setuptools: /usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/setuptools/command/launcher manifest.xml already exists in filesystem,
  if this file is not needed, remove it and retry

When tried to delete in thunar,
Could not delete “launcher manifest.xml”. Error removing file: permission denied.

What is this launcher manifest.xml used for ?
What is it for ?
Is it safe to remove ?
How to remove ?

Thanks

[Kresimir]

@lily

if this file is not needed, remove it and retry

Well, the error message tells you what to do:

sudo rm "/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/setuptools/command/launcher manifest.xml"

Then try:

sudo pacman -S vlc

[lily]

Sudo rm the file already.
I use pamac gui to install vlc: “transaction aborted”

Error: harfbuzz: could not create directory /var/lib/pacman/local/harfbuzz-2.7.4-1/: File exists
Error: harfbuzz: could not commit transaction
Failed to commit transaction:
transaction aborted

Can you please explain the issue ?

[keybreak]

Welcome!

@lily

Can you please explain the issue ?

[FAQ] Package installation says FILENAME exists in filesystem; “Failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)”

I can’t install or update a package because I get (something like) this: error: could not prepare transaction error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) libname: /insert/file/name/here exists in filesystem Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded. Why is this happening? The package manager, pacman , has detected an unexpected file already exists on disk. By design it will not overwrite files that already exist. This is a design feature, not a flaw - package managers are de…

here you go

[lily]

So far i have only downloaded skype, libre office… …
Why these happened ? due to skype ?

$ pacman -Qk vlc
error: duplicated database entry 'libarchive'
error: duplicated database entry 'openexr'
error: duplicated database entry 'reflector-simple'
error: duplicated database entry 'iproute2'
error: duplicated database entry 'libevdev'
error: duplicated database entry 'xfce4-mount-plugin'
error: duplicated database entry 'python-setuptools'
error: duplicated database entry 'eos-bash-shared'
error: duplicated database entry 'xfwm4'
error: duplicated database entry 'harfbuzz-icu'
vlc: 1057 total files, 0 missing files

What does this mean ? everytime i do something these error: duplicated comes out.
I can’t download vlc via pamac gui…
but pacman works… any idea why ?

sudo pacman -S vlc

[keybreak]

Not sure, perhaps @dalto would have idea?

Sadly pamac is not the most stable thing out in the world…
It’s best if you familiarize yourself with pacman if you want things to just work

[lily]

If i adopt to this method as in your post… will it causes harm ? If it can simply be overwritten regardless of the content…

The “I don’t care” way

sudo pacman -S $PACKAGE --overwrite '*'

[dalto]

It looks like you have duplicate entries. Probably in /var/lib/pacman/local/

I would fix that before using --overwrite

Is this a new install?

[keybreak]

@lily
I have never been in situation like yourself, so can’t personally comment, however looking through @jonathon’s post i don’t think it will make any harm judging from situation you’re in.

@dalto
How is it possible even?
Maybe best / fastest option then is to just clean all local cache?

[dalto]

@keybreak

How is it possible even?

I am not sure but I suppose it could happen in lots of ways. Disk corruption, a bad restore from backup, a broken package manager, etc.

It has never happened to me but I see reports of it happening to others.

[lily]

Yes, new installation.
Only installed skype , follow techmint method… maybe that’s where the issue is. I saw the folder is in /home… so messy. I have not yet learn how to install from outside of repo, just follow blindly.

[dalto]

@lily

Only installed skype , follow techmint method

Can you provide a link to that?

[lily]

https://www.tecmint.com/install-skype-in-arch-linux/

[dalto]

That is…interesting. I would recommend not following any more tutorials from there if that is the typical quality.

That being said, I don’t see anything there that would cause duplicate entries.

If it is a clean install, it is probably easier to re-install than try to troubleshoot it. Make sure you installing into a clean formatted partition if you are using the manual disk setup.

For future reference, on EOS, you can install skype with:

yay -S skypeforlinux-stable-bin

[lily]

Ok. Thanks

Can you show me how to install the skype techmint manual method but a cleaner method ?
For learning sake.

[ricklinux]

I am assuming that way would be to install git if it isn’t already installed. Git clone the skype package to install from the repo. Change to the folder and the use mkpkg -si. But I’ll let @dalto explain as i am only going by my own idea of how i would do that.

[dalto]

@lily

Can you show me how to install the skype techmint manual method but a cleaner method ?
For learning sake.

# update your system and ensure that the tools needed to build an aur package are installed
sudo pacman -Syu git base-devel --needed

# clone the repo into your home directory 
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/skypeforlinux-stable-bin.git

# switch into the directory
cd skypeforlinux-stable-bin

# build the package and install any needed dependencies
makepkg -si

[lily]

@dalto

# clone the repo into your home directory 
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/skypeforlinux-stable-bin.git

You didn’t specify where the cloned git gonna land… ?
Let git decide where it stores the cloned files ?
To be neat , I would like to tell git where i want it to be…so it won’t make a mess … is that possible ?

[dalto]

Just put the folder name at the end:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/skypeforlinux-stable-bin.git ~/skypeforlinux-stable-bin