Pamac (graphical package management tool) and yay stopped working. [Workaround / Fix]

Hi! :smiley:

Due to pacman version 6 being released, updating your system will break pamac (the graphical package management tool) and yay (the AUR helper). This happens because the developers of pamac have not yet incorporated changes that come with the new version in the library. If you already did update, don’t panic :worried:. It is not too late :skull_and_crossbones:. You have a few options. Read on below:

Workaround for graphical package management

Option 1: Use bauh instead of pamac: (run the below steps on a terminal)

Step 1: Install bauh

sudo pacman -Sy bauh

Step 2: Launch bauh

bauh &

Option 2: Use tkpacman instead of pamac: (run the below steps on a terminal)

Step 1: Install tkpacman

sudo pacman -Sy tkpacman

Step 2: Launch tkpacman

sudo tkpacman &

Option 3: Downgrade pacman to use pamac: (run the below steps on a terminal)

Step 1: Check what versions of pacman you have in your cache:

ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg | grep pacman

Step 2: Install an older version of pacman:

sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/<older-pacman-package-name>

where you need to replace <older-pacman-package-name> with one of the package names from the earlier step.

Step 3: [Remember for the next time!] Until pamac catches up with version 6 of pacman, you can add --ignore pacman every time you upgrade your system. For example: sudo pacman -Syu --ignore pacman

Here is a sample run of the above steps to downgrade pacman:

[user@user-computer ~]$ ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg | grep pacman
pacman-5.2.2-4-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
pacman-6.0.0-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
pacman-6.0.0-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst.sig
pacman-mirrorlist-20210509-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
[user@user-computer ~]$ sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/pacman-5.2.2-4-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
loading packages...
warning: downgrading package pacman (6.0.0-2 => 5.2.2-4)
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) pacman-5.2.2-4

Total Installed Size:   4.44 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      -0.18 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                                                                                 [########################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                                                                               [########################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                                                                    [########################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                                                                              [########################################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) downgrading pacman                                                                                                                       [########################################################################################] 100%
warning: /etc/makepkg.conf installed as /etc/makepkg.conf.pacnew
warning: /etc/pacman.conf installed as /etc/pacman.conf.pacnew
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
[user@user-computer ~]$ sudo pacman -Q pacman
pacman 5.2.2-4

To fix yay

Since @Rafael has already compiled a newer version of yay for RebornOS, you can fix it by simply upgrading your system and updating yay:

sudo pacman -Syu yay

When in doubt, message us!

If you still have questions or issues, (apart from the forum) you can also message us on Discord, Facebook or Twitter and we will be happy to help! :slightly_smiling_face:

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