[arch-general] Cannot recover pacman upgrade fails problem

[Cao, Renzhi (MU-Student)]

Hi, all:

     I really have no idea for the pacman upgrading fails issue, so I summarize the problem I meet, and the things I try, if any one can give me suggestions of what I miss something or I do something wrong, I really appreciate, if not, I hope this summation can benefit some other people who meets the same problem.


The initial problem:

After using pacman -Syu --ignore filesystem to upgrade my arch linux, and reboot, get the following message:

ERROR: device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/3f51b ...' not found. Skipping fsck.

ERROR: Unable to find root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/3f51b ...'. You are being dropped to a recovery shell.

You are being dropped to a recovery shell

     Type "exit" to try and continue booting

sh: cant access tty; job control turned off.

[ramfs /]# _



The solution may be used to solve this problem : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pacman#Q:_After_updating_my_system.2C_I_get_a_.22unable_to_find_root_device.22_error_after_rebooting_and_my_system_will_no_longer_boot


I first try the first method, not work, and then try the second method:

The following is the command I run and the output after I use a live CD for my system: (People have similar problem can consider it)

#fdisk -l

/Dev/sda : 2000.4 GB.

 Device boot|start|end|blocks|id|systems

/dev/sda1 …  Linux swap/solaris

/dev/sda2 …  Linux

/dev/sda3 …  Linux

Disk /dev/mapper/arch_root-image
Units ...

Sectorsize ...


#mount /dev/mapper/arch_root-image /mnt

#mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

#mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
#arch-chroot /mnt

#pacman-key --init
#pacman-key --populate archlinux    (This command is needed for the signiture, it takes me a while to figure out this).
#pacman -Syu mkinitcpio systemd linux

(133/133) checking for file conflicts              [######################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
filesystem: /bin exists in filesystem
filesystem: /sbin exists in filesystem
filesystem: /usr/sbin exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.
(I Check this website for the solution: https://www.archlinux.org/news/binaries-move-to-usrbin-requiring-update-intervention)
#pacman -Qqo /bin /sbin /usr/sbin | pacman -Qm –  (you may get different output, the following is mine)

sysvinit-tool 2.88-9

lilo 23.2-3

grub-common 2.00-1

sysvinit-tool 2.88-9

lilo 23.2-3

#pacman -R lilo
#pacman -Syu --ignore filesystem,bash
#pacman -S grub
#pacman -S sysvinit-tools
#pacman -S systemd
#pacman -S bash
#pacman -Su
#pacman -Syu mkinitcpio systemd linux  (now for me, this command can run successfully)
#exit, and umount, reboot

After rebooting, I get the following error:
/dev/sda3: clean ...

ERROR: root device mounted successfully, but /sbin/init does not exist.

Bailing out, you are on your own. Good luck.

Sh: cannot access tty: job control turned off.

[rootfs/]# _


(I check this website for the solution:1. Add "init=/bin/systemd" to the kernel line, based on https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=146388

 2. Add "init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" to the kernel line, based on https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=166423)

None of them work for me.


Here is the command I run in rootfs :

#ls

bin,buildconfig,config,dev,etc,hooks,init,init_functions,lib,lib_64,new_root,proc,run,root,sys,tmp,usr.

I check the folder new_root, it is my system's root folder before it crashes. I don't know how this new folder comes, I am guessing I do something wrong for arch-chroot?


I checked :

#ls -l /sbin/init

.... 7 Mar, /sbin/init -> busybox               ( the same output for ls -l /bin/init)

#ls -l /bin/systemd

 No such file

#ls -l /usr/lib/systemd/systemd

No such file

It seems I miss something, and I remember I do reinstall the grub and sysvinit-tools before I quit arch-chroot.


Welcome to ask me questions for some details if you have the same problem, and welcome to give me suggestions. ?

Thank you all!



Renzhi Cao

Email : rcrg4 at mail.missouri.edu<https://bluprd0112.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=HgdIKZwfkkG-ZqHZQdR5l5Qjeol9gdAIEexz2Okb9KSvfYJfxGlJ7wHelHyOveteZCNx50ztf78.&URL=mailto%3arcrg4%40mail.missouri.edu>