Here’s how I fixed the stupid GPGME error.
For starters, here’s the [Manjaro Wiki article] (Pacman troubleshooting - Manjaro) that helped me. (thanks Napcok!)
- I deviated slightly from the article. Using
sudo pacman -U <file>
didn’t work, kept getting a 404. I downloaded each of the keyring files manually. You’ll need to get them from a mirror. The files are:- manjaro-keyring
- archlinux-keyring
- mabox-keyring
- Remove faulty package databases
sudo rm -f /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
- Remove GPG databases
sudo rm -R /var/lib/pacman/sync
- Use
pacman
to add the keyrings manuallysudo pacman -U /path/to/file/manjaro-keyring-yyyymmdd.any.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U /path/to/file/mabox-keyring-yyyymmdd.any.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U /path/to/file/archlinux-keyring-yyyymmdd.any.pkg.tar.xz
- Download databases and update the system
sudo pacman -Syyu
This is what worked for me. I wrote this little Markdown file and filed it away on my littke wiki I keep for my homelab.
For what it’s worth, I believe the cause of my repeated problems was simple neglect. I do not use my Linux laptop every single day. My usual daily Linux experience is with my two Raspberry Pi machines that run DietPi, a stripped down, lean version of Debian Buster. I do not even have a GUI installed since all of my interaction is from an SSH session. So it can be a couple of weeks before I even boot up this laptop. And, each time I have had the GPGME error, it’s been after a period of non-use.
I believe I need to make it a point to watch closely for updates more often so my keyring files remain fresh. Stale keys are no bueno.
There was a lot of trial and error before I finally fixed this. I’ve been wrestling with it since March. Several reinstalls. Lots of hair pulling, and some not-nice conversations with support people.
Thanks to Daniel for all his help in Discord, on Reddit, and in his various forum posts. I found the Manjaro Wiki article I used on the Mabox forums. I simply cannot say anything bad about Mabox. It has the soul of Crunchbang, even though there are other distros that are billed as its replacement.
Using Mabox, I am now, very slowly, learning the Arch Way to do things. My only suggestion is a version of Mabox that will work with an arm kernel so I can set up my Raspberry Pi boxes!