[pacman-dev] "pacman --arch=i686 -Syu" results in "error: GPGME error: No data"

Thu Jun 3 09:39:10 UTC 2021

$ sudo pacman --arch=i686 -Syu
:: Synchronising package databases...
system is up to date
world is up to date
galaxy is up to date
lib32 is up to date
universe.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'system.db' from ftp.cc.uoc.gr : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'system.db' from mirror.clarkson.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'system.db' from ftp.sh.cvut.cz : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'system.db' from artix.wheaton.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'system.db' from mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'world.db' from ftp.cc.uoc.gr : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'world.db' from mirror.clarkson.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'world.db' from ftp.sh.cvut.cz : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'world.db' from artix.wheaton.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'world.db' from mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed retrieving file 'galaxy.db' from ftp.cc.uoc.gr : The requested URL returned error: 404
warning: too many errors from ftp.cc.uoc.gr, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'galaxy.db' from mirror.clarkson.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
warning: too many errors from mirror.clarkson.edu, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'galaxy.db' from ftp.sh.cvut.cz : The requested URL returned error: 404
warning: too many errors from ftp.sh.cvut.cz, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'galaxy.db' from artix.wheaton.edu : The requested URL returned error: 404
warning: too many errors from artix.wheaton.edu, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'galaxy.db' from mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn : The requested URL returned error: 404
warning: too many errors from mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
error: failed retrieving file 'universe.db' from universe.artixlinux.org : The requested URL returned error: 404
error: failed to synchronize all databases (failed to retrieve some files)
$ sudo pacman -Syu
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
:: Synchronising package databases...
system                                                            259.6 KiB   193 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
world                                                            1790.7 KiB   654 KiB/s 00:03 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
galaxy                                                           1734.6 KiB   544 KiB/s 00:03 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
lib32                                                             139.4 KiB   236 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
universe                                                           63.2 KiB  97.7 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
extra                                                            1550.9 KiB   818 KiB/s 00:02 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
community                                                           5.5 MiB   747 KiB/s 00:08 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
multilib is up to date
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
error: GPGME error: No data
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unexpected error)
$ sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
$ sudo pacman-key --init
$ sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux artix
==> Appending keys from archlinux.gpg...
==> Appending keys from artix.gpg...
==> Locally signing trusted keys in keyring...
==> Importing owner trust values...
==> Disabling revoked keys in keyring...
==> Updating trust database...
gpg: next trustdb check due at 2021-08-02
$ sudo pacman -Syy
:: Synchronising package databases...
system                                                            259.6 KiB   263 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
world                                                            1790.7 KiB   482 KiB/s 00:04 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
galaxy                                                           1734.6 KiB   551 KiB/s 00:03 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
lib32                                                             139.4 KiB   230 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
universe                                                           63.2 KiB  99.3 KiB/s 00:01 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
extra                                                            1550.9 KiB   511 KiB/s 00:03 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
community                                                           5.5 MiB   675 KiB/s 00:08 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
multilib                                                          150.4 KiB   940 KiB/s 00:00 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
Then it is back to normal.

It looks like something specific to the Artix repos, community and extra are Arch Linux repos:
Normal working situation:
/var/lib/pacman/sync$ ls -lh
total 12M
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.6M Jun  3 09:24 community.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.6M Jun  3 09:23 extra.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7M Jun  2 20:51 galaxy.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140K May 31 11:16 lib32.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 151K Jun  2 08:56 multilib.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 260K Jun  1 21:47 system.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  64K Jun  3 07:41 universe.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.8M Jun  2 19:59 world.db
Faulty nonworking situation:
/var/lib/pacman/sync$ ls -lh
total 12M
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.6M Jun  3 09:24 community.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.6M Jun  3 09:23 extra.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7M Jun  2 20:51 galaxy.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 Mar  1 08:11 galaxy.db.sig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 140K May 31 11:16 lib32.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 Mar  1 08:11 lib32.db.sig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 151K Jun  2 08:56 multilib.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 260K Jun  1 21:47 system.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 Mar  1 08:11 system.db.sig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  64K Jun  3 07:41 universe.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.8M Jun  2 19:59 world.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 Mar  1 08:11 world.db.sig

Also I can omit the pacman-key commands above to restore normal operation.
Perhaps the db.sig things are obsolete and shouldn't be in the mirrors? But they don't seem to come from there anyway:
https://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/artixlinux/galaxy/os/x86_64/
Or could it be that one of the Artix mirrors really has an old outdated os/i686 directory? I think there was some late 32 bit support after Arch had dropped it. Universe is a fairly new Artix repo and doesn't have a db.sig file in the error situation.