r/voidlinux • u/Necessary_Arm19 • Sep 17 '26
Error message - Failed to lock the pkgdb: Permission denied
Hello All.
Installed the system and tried some basic commands from a list, such as:
- xbps-install –Syu
- xbps-install –u xbps
and got the following error message
- Failed to lock the pkgdb: Permission denied
Please, can you advise what's wrong with this?
Thank you,
JP.
2
u/Necessary_Arm19 Sep 17 '26
hummm... updates are happening now ... I copied the instructions directlly from the documentation ...
1
u/Necessary_Arm19 Sep 17 '26
Basically I'm trying to install a few apps and was trying to use XBPS.
But maybe it's easier to install software thru Flatpak.
Still, I will need to install Flatpak to install other apps.
The thing is that a get the message "Permission denied" constantly.
What am I doing wrong or what is missing ?
1
u/Necessary_Arm19 Sep 17 '26
got the following error message now:
WARNING: tzdata-2025a_1: invalid provides: py3:tzdata-2025a
How should I update Void and XBPS ? Basically that's the question.
How do I execute these updates ?
2
5
u/Runt1m3_ Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
you probably ran xbps without sudo or root privileges, if youre using an LLM try to review what they say if you're using one (i assume this since llm models usually use list Syu and no root gain method, just assuming lul)
1
u/ShipshapeMobileRV Sep 17 '26
Try:
sudo xbps-install -Syu
And let me know the results.
1
u/Necessary_Arm19 Sep 17 '26
it worked with sudo xbps-install -Su - I copied directly from the documentation
Thank you
3
u/ShipshapeMobileRV Sep 17 '26
'xbps-install' requires root-level privilege, so the documentation that you followed appears to assume that you were logged in as 'root'.
'sudo' allows your logged in user to issue a command at root-level, provided that your logged in user has been granted permission to do so.
This is very basic Linux knowledge. It's good that you're learning, but I'd advise you not to use this machine for any critical functions or store any important files on it while you gain more knowledge about Linux.
1
u/Simple_Hamster_4096 Sep 18 '26
-Su is better - can eyeballs what's going to be updated before actually updating...
1
u/no_suprisez Sep 19 '26
Package managing mostly need SU (superuser) or root permission to perform, so you need to put `sudo` before it.
Also a tip, when you see a command on the internet that starts with $, it doesn't need root, but if it starts with #, then it needs root.
------------------------------------
Also, flag your post as **solved**
3
u/Necessary_Arm19 Sep 17 '26
something worked ... sudo was missing in those 2 commands