jdx/mise · error

pacman -Qm failed: {}

Error message

pacman -Qm failed: {}

What it means

When resolving foreign (AUR) packages, `AurManager::installed` calls `foreign_packages()`, which runs `pacman -Qm` to list explicitly-installed foreign packages. Exit code 1 with empty stdout and stderr is the documented 'no foreign packages' case and is tolerated; any other non-zero exit bubbles the trimmed stderr up as this error. It means the pacman database query itself failed rather than simply having no results.

Source

Thrown at src/system/packages/aur.rs:136

}

async fn foreign_packages() -> Result<String> {
    let args = ["-Qm"];
    debug!("$ pacman {}", args.join(" "));
    let output = tokio::process::Command::new("pacman")
        .args(args)
        .env("LC_ALL", "C")
        .stdin(Stdio::null())
        .stdout(Stdio::piped())
        .stderr(Stdio::piped())
        .output()
        .await?;
    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
    let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr);
    let no_foreign_packages =
        output.status.code() == Some(1) && stdout.trim().is_empty() && stderr.trim().is_empty();
    if !output.status.success() && !no_foreign_packages {
        bail!("pacman -Qm failed: {}", stderr.trim());
    }
    Ok(stdout.into_owned())
}

#[async_trait(?Send)]
impl SystemPackageManager for AurManager {
    fn name(&self) -> &str {
        "aur"
    }

    fn is_available(&self) -> bool {
        cfg!(target_os = "linux")
            && crate::file::which("pacman").is_some()
            && self.helper().is_some()
    }

    fn unavailable_reason(&self) -> String {
        if !cfg!(target_os = "linux") {

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

1. Inspect the stderr embedded in the error; if it reports a corrupt database, repair with `sudo pacman -Dk` (check) and restore from /var/lib/pacman/local backup if needed.
2. If a lock is reported, wait for any running pacman/yay/paru process to finish and remove a stale /var/lib/pacman/db.lck only when pacman is not running.
3. Verify `pacman -Qm` runs successfully in a shell as the same user; fix permissions or environment issues it reports.
4. Run `sudo pacman -Syu` to bring the database and system to a consistent state, then retry the mise command.

Example fix

// before
$ mise install aur:yay
Error: pacman -Qm failed: error: could not open database

// after: repair the pacman local database, then retry
$ sudo pacman -Dk   # or restore local/ from backup
$ mise install aur:yay

// ensure pacman's foreign-package query works before using the aur backend
const probe = await run('pacman', ['-Qm']);
if (probe.code !== 0 && !(probe.code === 1 && !probe.stdout.trim() && !probe.stderr.trim())) {
  throw new Error(`pacman -Qm unhealthy (exit ${probe.code}): ${probe.stderr}`);
}

function isPacmanQueryFailure(err: unknown): err is & { message: string } {
  return err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('pacman -Qm failed:');
}

try {
  await mise.install('aur:yay');
} catch (err) {
  if (isPacmanQueryFailure(err)) {
    if (/could not open database|corrupt/i.test(err.message)) {
      await run('sudo', ['pacman', '-Dk']); // validate/repair local DB, then retry
    }
    throw err;
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: resolve_foreign_packages -> foreign_packages() spawns `LC_ALL=C pacman -Qm`; pacman exits non-zero (and not the tolerated 1-with-empty-output case). Triggered by a corrupt pacman local database, pacman failing to open /var/lib/pacman, or pacman emitting real errors to stderr even with exit 1.

Common situations: Arch/Manjaro systems with a corrupted or partially-upgraded local DB, running as a user who cannot read the pacman database, interrupted `pacman -Syu` leaving the DB locked or inconsistent, or pacman wrapper configurations that break plain pacman invocation.

Understand the failure class

Background: Database query failed: Internal Server Error 500s wrapping SQL, Prisma, and connection failures — what to check first — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

• AUR helpers cannot install a pinned version ('{pkg}')
• AUR packages cannot be built as root; run mise as a non-root
• pacman -T failed: {}
• dpkg-query failed: {}
• pacman cannot install a pinned version ('{p}'): Arch reposit

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/21dd6d99eb0471bd. Report an issue: GitHub.