How to fix issues when updating the Manjaro OS

I was experiencing issues with updating your Manjaro system and synchronizing the AUR database.

This is the error message I received: 

invalid or corrupted database (PGP signature) Failed to synchronize AUR database

Checking online I found out I'm not the only one having issues, and since this problem can occur for a variety of reasons, including network issues, server problems, or corrupted local databases, I ended up creating a list of the things you can try to solve this problem:

Step 1: Update the System

Open a terminal and run the following command to update your system:

sh

sudo pacman -Syu

This command will update your system's package database and upgrade all your installed packages.

Step 2: Fix the Corrupted Database

To fix the corrupted database, you need to remove the current database files and then update the database again. Here is how you can do this:

sh

sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
sudo pacman -Syy

These commands will remove all the existing database files and force Pacman to refresh the database.

Step 3: Fix PGP Signature Errors

PGP signature errors occur when the package manager cannot verify the authenticity of a package, which could potentially indicate a malicious or corrupted package. To fix PGP signature errors in Manjaro, follow these steps::

sh

sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys

This command will refresh the keys in your keyring.

Step 3-a: Rebuild the Keyring

If updating the keyring doesn't solve the issue, you might need to rebuild the keyring. To do this, use the following commands:

sh

sudo rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux manjaro
sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys

Here's what these commands do:

• The first command deletes the existing gnupg folder, which contains the current keyring.
• The second command initializes a new keyring.
• The third command populates the new keyring with the keys from the Arch Linux and Manjaro key servers.
• The fourth command refreshes the keys.

Step 4: Synchronize AUR Database

Since you mentioned a failure in synchronizing the AUR database, you should also ensure that the AUR helper (like yay or trizen) is correctly configured and working properly. You can synchronize the AUR database using the following command (assuming you are using yay):

sh

yay -Syu

This command will synchronize the AUR database and update all your AUR packages.

Step 5: Checking the Mirrorlist

Sometimes, the issue can be due to the servers you are using to download the updates. Ensure that you have the best servers listed in your Pacman mirrorlist. You can edit the mirrorlist file using a text editor with root privileges:

sh

sudo nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Ensure that the servers listed in this file are up and functioning correctly.

After following all these steps, you should retry updating your system and synchronizing the AUR database to see if the problem has been resolved.