Listmates, I ran into my first problem with pacman and, I know what caused the problem, but I need to understand why pacman thought it was a problem to begin with. Here is the situation: Trying to start X, and one complaint was no /usr/share/fonts/TTF directory. I had a /usr/share/fonts/truetype directory so I just softlinked the missing TTF to truetype to get rid to the error on startx. startx liked the solution. Then I went to install audio-convert which noted additional dependencies of (blah.. blah.. mplayer), so I we to install the optional dependencies: **pms below is just aliased to 'pacman -Sy' [14:15 archangel:/home/david] # pms lame id3lib vorbis-tools flac faac faad2 musepack-tools mplayer <snip> checking package integrity... (12/12) checking for file conflicts [#############################################] 100% error: could not prepare transaction error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) ttf-dejavu: /usr/share/fonts/TTF/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf exists in filesystem ttf-dejavu: /usr/share/fonts/TTF/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf exists in filesystem ttf-dejavu: /usr/share/fonts/TTF/DejaVuSans-ExtraLight.ttf exists in filesystem <snip - remaining dejavu variants> Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded. And "Yes", DejaVu fonts did exist in /usr/share/fonts/TTF softlinked to /usr/share/fonts/truetype, but why does pacman care? If the same font already exists in a directory, that shouldn't cause the install to blow up -- should it? Well, since I cause the problem with the softlink, fixing it was pretty easy, but what I'm curious about is why it was a problem to begin with. I want to understand what the rules are for pacman so I don't cause any additional problems in the future with softlinks (which I use in moderation, but do use). So any body got quick explanation or quick link so I can figure out what not to do again?? Thanks -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com