How to delete a file in Arch console?

Question

pacman stopped working and asked me to delete a file if "another package manager isn't working". What is the file for deleting files?

Answer 1

You delete files with the rm command, e.g.:

rm /tmp/pacman.lck

I hate to be "that guy", but if you don't know how to delete a file from the Linux command line, Arch is not the Linux distribution for you. Try something easier, like Ubuntu or Linux Mint first.

Answer 2

If pacman is complaining there is ususally a good reason; don't ignore complaints unless you find good reason to, e.g. if it says "it's okay to ignore the error". Good practice would be to check your logs first and foremost.

A lot of the logs live in /var/log/. This will show the tail end or last couple of lines from everything.log; which contains most errors across the system as they happen:

# cat /var/log/everything.log | tail

It's also worth seriously noting that running two package managers/instances of pacman at the same time is not a good idea. Did you start one then try to start another? It may be waiting for your input:

Proceed with installation? [Y/n]

Then you try to use `pacman to install something else without answering and get:

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 one thing that you should learn early is that deleting anything should be your absolute last resort, in any situation with linux. There is no 'trash bin' with the commandline, delete really means its gone.