The following in a stack script results in a fresh Arch 2010.05 booting with the package database still locked:

# update pacman and do system update
pacman -Sy
pacman -S pacman --noconfirm
pacman-db-upgrade
pacman -Syu --noconfirm

Once booted, pacman reports:

[root@d1 ~]# pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)
  if you're sure a package manager is not already
  running, you can remove /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

The obvious work-around is just add a line to the stack script to remove the db.lck file - but this probably shouldn't be necessary.

Hi,

I saw this topic and fixed my Arch LAMP StackScript because I realized it was broken from the recent requirement of having to run "pacman-db-upgrade":

http://www.linode.com/stackscripts/view ... iptID=1480

The following series of commands seems to work for me, without causing any database locking problems or whatever:

pacman -Sy pacman --noconfirm
pacman-db-upgrade
pacman -Syu --noconfirm

It does take awhile for the -Syu to run though, since it's updating *everything*. Is it possible that you tried to run "pacman -Syu" over SSH while the original "pacman -Syu" from the StackScript was still going on?

If you're willing to redeploy to test it, you might want to watch your Linode's console to make sure the original "pacman -Syu" from the StackScript finishes before you run "pacman -Syu" again over SSH.

Hope this helps!