Yet another "Error: GPGME error: No data"

markwh0 · May 17, 2025, 11:38pm

Request

I could use some help solving this “error: GPGME error: No data” message.

System info

Asus Chromebook
Intel Core m3-6Y30
Linux asus-EOS 6.1.12-arch1-1 #1
SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 14 Feb 2023 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Situation

I enjoyed using this system without issues about two years ago. I moved and it got stashed away in the forgotten closet. Now I’m unable to bring it back to an updated working state.

Things I’ve Tried

I’ve searched many times using all the different error messages. And I’ve visited (and followed steps that seemed to apply) nearly every link on the first page of query results. And before posting I was shown “Your topic is similar to…”, which were included in those I mentioned above.

Other Bits

This system is stuck back in 2023.

I’ve tried to update the keyrings using sudo pacman -Syy archlinux-keyring endeavouros-keyring

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo pacman -Syy archlinux-keyring endeavouros-keyring
[sudo] password for mark: 
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   687   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core                            117.9 KiB  90.5 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 extra                             7.7 MiB   608 KiB/s 00:13 [--------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                        134.7 KiB  92.0 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)

I tried temporarily changing the SigLevel to TrustAll.
Using sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys shows a lot of “Network error” messages, and it takes a approx 5 min to complete. I feel like this is caused by another issue though.

Nearly every command I try shows the “error: GPGME error: No data” message somewhere in the output. I cannot get rid of this message- it follows me everywhere!

In the past, I could usually figure out these type of problems, but I don’t know what else to try at this point. Would someone be willing to offer a starting point for me?

ringo · May 17, 2025, 11:42pm

First of all checked https://archlinux.org/news/cleaning-up-old-repositories/

Pacman.conf adapted?

If 2 years stashed away there is more..but lets see..make sure mirror is good arch and endeavour

When you get working probably also renamings issue.

cactux · May 17, 2025, 11:46pm

Look here too:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman#error:_GPGME_error:_No_data

joekamprad · May 17, 2025, 11:49pm

easiest way is to reset the keyring/keystorage complete:
https://discovery.endeavouros.com/signature-and-keyring/pacman-keyring-issues/2021/03/

sudo mv /etc/pacman.d/gnupg /root/pacman-key.bak
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux endeavouros
sudo pacman -Syy archlinux-keyring endeavouros-keyring
sudo pacman -Syu

markwh0 · May 18, 2025, 1:38am

Thank you all for replying.

Here is the various output (by section) I get from most of those instructions. Maybe you’ll find something that I’m overlooking.

Cleaning up old repositories

Yes, @ringo I found that one too. And those have been disabled:

Partial from [mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo vi /etc/pacman.conf:

[endeavouros]
SigLevel = PackageRequired
Include = /etc/pacman.d/endeavouros-mirrorlist

#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

3.18 error: GPGME error: No data

@cactux And that was another section that I tried.

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo rm -r /var/lib/pacman/sync/

I also checked the first link in both: (working)

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ pacman-conf -r core
> omitted - list too long

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ pacman-conf -r extra
> omitted - list too long

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ UpdateInTerminal 
Arch & EndeavourOS update check:
:: Searching Arch & EndeavourOS for updates...
==> ERROR: Cannot fetch updates

UpdateInTerminal: error: Checkupdates: failure!
Usage: UpdateInTerminal [options]
Options:
    --noup     Don't check Arch & EndeavourOS updates.
    --noaur    Don't check AUR updates.
    --nt       Check updates in a new terminal window.
    --sync     Run program 'sync' afterwards if updates were detected.
    --keyring  Update keyring packages first. This may help on some PGP signature issues.

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ yay
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   690   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core                            117.9 KiB  94.6 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 extra                             7.7 MiB   415 KiB/s 00:19 [--------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                        134.7 KiB   116 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)
 -> error installing repo packages

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ file /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
/var/lib/pacman/sync/core.db:            gzip compressed data, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 593920
/var/lib/pacman/sync/endeavouros.db:     HTML document, ASCII text, with very long lines (386)
/var/lib/pacman/sync/endeavouros.db.sig: HTML document, ASCII text, with very long lines (390)
/var/lib/pacman/sync/extra.db:           gzip compressed data, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 34119680
/var/lib/pacman/sync/multilib.db:        gzip compressed data, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 655360

Signature and keyring

@joekamprad I found those somewhere on this forum too. Although that link was a new one.

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo pacman-key --init
gpg: /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: starting migration from earlier GnuPG versions
gpg: porting secret keys from '/etc/pacman.d/gnupg/secring.gpg' to gpg-agent
gpg: migration succeeded
==> Generating pacman master key. This may take some time.
gpg: Generating pacman keyring master key...
gpg: directory '/etc/pacman.d/gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d' created
gpg: revocation certificate stored as '/etc/pacman.d/gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/8AF76CB74424902C9C8C06CB366FBA0B837234EF.rev'
gpg: Done
==> Updating trust database...
gpg: marginals needed: 3  completes needed: 1  trust model: pgp
gpg: depth: 0  valid:   1  signed:   0  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u

And yes, the system clock is correct.

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ date
Sat May 17 09:42:32 PM EDT 2025

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux endeavouros
==> Appending keys from archlinux.gpg...
==> Appending keys from endeavouros.gpg...
==> Locally signing trusted keys in keyring...
  -> Locally signed 12 keys.
==> Importing owner trust values...
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: inserting ownertrust of 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
gpg: setting ownertrust to 4
==> Disabling revoked keys in keyring...
  -> Disabled 34 keys.
==> Updating trust database...
gpg: marginals needed: 3  completes needed: 1  trust model: pgp
gpg: depth: 0  valid:   1  signed:  12  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
gpg: depth: 1  valid:  12  signed:  69  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 12m, 0f, 0u
gpg: depth: 2  valid:  48  signed:  22  trust: 48-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 0u
gpg: next trustdb check due at 2025-08-18

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo pacman -Syy archlinux-keyring endeavouros-keyring
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   727   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core                            117.9 KiB  85.1 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 extra                             7.7 MiB  1214 KiB/s 00:07 [--------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                        134.7 KiB   100 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo pacman -Syyu
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   660   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core                            117.9 KiB   105 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 extra                             7.7 MiB   610 KiB/s 00:13 [--------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                        134.7 KiB   117 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/{archlinux,endeavouros}-keyring*.pkg.tar.zst
error: GPGME error: No data
error: database 'endeavouros' is not valid (invalid or corrupted database (PGP signature))
loading packages...
error: '/var/cache/pacman/pkg/archlinux-keyring*.pkg.tar.zst': could not find or read package
error: '/var/cache/pacman/pkg/endeavouros-keyring*.pkg.tar.zst': could not find or read package

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ yay
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   461   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)
 -> error installing repo packages

[mark@asus-EOS pacman.d]$ UpdateInTerminal
Arch & EndeavourOS update check:
:: Searching Arch & EndeavourOS for updates...
==> ERROR: Cannot fetch updates

UpdateInTerminal: error: Checkupdates: failure!
Usage: UpdateInTerminal [options]
Options:
    --noup     Don't check Arch & EndeavourOS updates.
    --noaur    Don't check AUR updates.
    --nt       Check updates in a new terminal window.
    --sync     Run program 'sync' afterwards if updates were detected.
    --keyring  Update keyring packages first. This may help on some PGP signature issues.

markwh0 · May 18, 2025, 3:57am

I came across another GPGME error thread on the Manjaro forum.

I followed along with it (and adjusting as necessary).

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo cp -f "/etc/pacman.conf" "/etc/pacman.conf.orig"

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo sed -i 's/SigLevel.*/SigLevel = Never/' /etc/pacman.conf

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo pacman -Syy gnupg archlinux-keyring endeavouros-keyring --ignore endeavouros-system
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   758   B/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core                            117.9 KiB   105 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
 extra                             7.7 MiB  1425 KiB/s 00:06 [--------------------------------] 100%
 multilib                        134.7 KiB   119 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------] 100%
error: could not open file /var/lib/pacman/sync/endeavouros.db: Unrecognized archive format
error: target not found: endeavouros-keyring

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo mv -f "/etc/pacman.conf.orig" "/etc/pacman.conf"

[mark@asus-EOS ~]$ sudo pacman -Syu
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros                    1118.0   B   732   B/s 00:02 [--------------------------------] 100%
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)

Still ran into the same problem. However, I noticed a different message.

endeavouros.db: Unrecognized archive format

I did a search for that, and found this Error: could not open endeavouros.db: unrecognized file format thread which has lead me down another trail.

It seems that:

But when I comment out the suggestion, I was getting:

error: failed to synchronize all databases (no servers configured for repository)
→ error installing repo packages

So I wasn’t able to

The Solution

After chasing this a bit more, I found the culprit: a bad mirror.

But I removed it as soon as I noticed it, so I cannot share it here now (unfortunately).

Which by the way, I had been trying to use the Welcome “app” to update Arch and EndeavourOS mirrors, but they would always return 404 errors… all of them.

Anyways… the system is now updating 943+ packages.

I’m sharing all of this, so that maybe it helps someone else in the future.

Thanks again for your help.

joekamprad · May 18, 2025, 11:35am

hmm this can happen in cases the mirror used is blocked per example and showing an error page instead of giving an actual error pacman could proceed…i saw it happen in the past that the db file is the text of the error page. latest pacman is not doing this anymore afaik.

system · May 20, 2025, 11:35am

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