Common problems

The failures below account for most first-week frustration. For deeper troubleshooting see ISO troubleshooting and Packaging validation.

"target not found" when installing a Parch package

error: target not found: parch-welcome

The world repository is missing or not synced. Check /etc/pacman.conf for the [world] section (setup guide) and run sudo pacman -Syu. Remember the section must sit above [core].

Partial upgrade breakage

error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)

Caused by pacman -Sy <pkg> (refreshing the database without upgrading). Fix: run sudo pacman -Syu fully. Never use -Sy alone; the handbook used to show it and it is wrong.

makepkg: "One or more PGP signatures could not be verified"

The upstream release is signed but the key is not in your keyring. Either import the key (gpg --recv-keys <KEYID> and add it to validpgpkeys) or, only when you have verified the source another way, build once with makepkg --skippgpcheck and then fix the PKGBUILD properly. Do not ship --skippgpcheck guidance in a PKGBUILD.

makepkg: "One or more files did not pass a validity check!"

Checksum mismatch: the sha256sums no longer match the source (upstream re-released, or you edited the source array). Re-run updpkgsums, then diff what changed upstream before trusting the new checksums.

namcap complains about dependencies

Common first-timer cases:

• A depends entry that every Arch system already has (bash, glibc): remove it unless the package genuinely needs a specific minimum version.
• Missing makedepends for build-time-only tools (meson, cmake, git).
• Library packages that should pull their headers through a split package instead.

ISO build fails with "You are not in root"

### You are not in root

Profile build.sh scripts require root: sudo ./build.sh. They install packages into the build environment and cannot run as a normal user.

ISO build runs out of space

mkarchiso needs room for the bootstrap root, the squashfs, and the ISO. Keep 30 GB free on the build filesystem, or point TMPDIR/the work directory at a larger volume. See Build your first ISO.

QEMU boots to a black screen

You likely used the wrong firmware for the image, or no display device. Test both firmwares explicitly (commands in Testing an ISO) and add -display gtk if you are on a headless script.

Persian text renders as boxes

A missing Persian font, not a locale problem. Install parch-persian-fonts from world (or noto-fonts as a stopgap) and confirm the app uses a font stack that includes Estedad. See Typography.

Still stuck?

Search the forum and the wiki; if your problem is new, post it. Build logs beat descriptions: include the real output.