[AUR] Unattended install script using --noconfirm fails due to: "Inner conflicts found" after wrong dependency detection?

[GrabbenD]

Affected Version

paru v2.0.1 - libalpm v13.0.2

Description

Edit: seems like the actual root of this problem is wrong dependency detection with AUR packages, see comment below

Paru fails to install aur/amdonly-gaming-mesa due to Inner conflicts found despite there not being any existing mesa packages in the system:

$ paru -Ss mesa | grep 'Installed'

These conflicts can be manually resolved by answering Y to all prompts.

As a result this breaks automated install scripts which relay on --noconfirm (as the default selection is N), e.g. when building a system in a chroot environment.

Output

$ paru --noconfirm --sync aur/amdonly-gaming-mesa
:: Resolving dependencies...
:: Calculating conflicts...
:: Calculating inner conflicts...

:: Conflicts found:
    amdonly-gaming-mesa: mesa (mesa-libgl)  mesa  mesa (mesa-libgl)  

:: Conflicting packages will have to be confirmed manually
error: can not install conflicting packages with --noconfirm

Config

/etc/paru.conf (default/untouched)

#
# $PARU_CONF
# /etc/paru.conf
# ~/.config/paru/paru.conf
#
# See the paru.conf(5) manpage for options

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
PgpFetch
Devel
Provides
DevelSuffixes = -git -cvs -svn -bzr -darcs -always -hg -fossil
#AurOnly
#BottomUp
#RemoveMake
#SudoLoop
#UseAsk
#SaveChanges
#CombinedUpgrade
#CleanAfter
#UpgradeMenu
#NewsOnUpgrade

#LocalRepo
#Chroot
#Sign
#SignDb
#KeepRepoCache

#
# Binary OPTIONS
#
#[bin]
#FileManager = vifm
#MFlags = --skippgpcheck
#Sudo = doas

/etc/pacman.conf (CachyOS repos)

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
#GPGDir      = /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
#HookDir     = /etc/pacman.d/hooks/
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl -L -C - -f -o %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#CleanMethod = KeepInstalled
#UseDelta    = 0.7
Architecture = x86_64 x86_64_v3

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg   =
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
#NoExtract   =

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
ILoveCandy
#NoProgressBar
#CheckSpace
VerbosePkgLists
DisableDownloadTimeout
ParallelDownloads = 10

# By default, pacman accepts packages signed by keys that its local keyring
# trusts (see pacman-key and its man page), as well as unsigned packages.
SigLevel    = Required DatabaseOptional
LocalFileSigLevel = Optional
#RemoteFileSigLevel = Required

# Main (CachyOS)

#[cachyos-testing-v3]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[cachyos-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/cachyos-v3-mirrorlist
[cachyos-core-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/cachyos-v3-mirrorlist
[cachyos-extra-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/cachyos-v3-mirrorlist
[cachyos-community-v3]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/cachyos-v3-mirrorlist
[cachyos]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/cachyos-mirrorlist

# Fallback (Arch Linux)

#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
#[community-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[community]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# Wine
#[multilib-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[GrabbenD]

Edit: I had to dig further to find the real reason, see comment below

This issue can also be reproduced with aur/mesa-git in a clean pacstrapped chroot:

$ paru --query --info mesa
error: package 'mesa' was not found

$ paru --noconfirm --sync aur/mesa-git
:: Resolving dependencies...
:: Calculating conflicts...
:: Calculating inner conflicts...

:: Conflicts found:
    mesa-git: mesa (mesa-libgl)  mesa  mesa (mesa-libgl)  

:: Conflicting packages will have to be confirmed manually
error: can not install conflicting packages with --noconfirm

Once the package assembly is done, it will ask us to remove mesa despite it not being present before installing aur/mesa-git:

==> Finished making: mesa-git 24.1.0_devel.184174.8368a972943.d41d8cd-1 (Sat 03 Feb 2024 09:00:46 PM CET)
==> Cleaning up...
loading packages...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: mesa-git and mesa are in conflict. Remove mesa? [y/N] 

Looks like the culprit is that Paru fails to realize that mesa-libgl is provided by aur/mesa-git

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=mesa-git

provides=('mesa' 'vulkan-intel' 'vulkan-radeon' 'vulkan-mesa-layers' 'libva-mesa-driver' 'mesa-vdpau' 'vulkan-swrast' 'vulkan-driver' 'mesa-libgl' 'opengl-driver')

As seen here, Paru thinks the regular mesa package is needed for mesa-libgl which is wrong:

$ paru --sync --search mesa-libgl
extra/mesa 1:23.3.5-1 [17.88 MiB 93.44 MiB]
    An open-source implementation of the OpenGL specification

[GrabbenD]

Turns out this issue is deeper after all

When you try to build aur/mesa-git you can clearly tell it's pulling in extra/mesa:

$ paru --query --info mesa
error: package 'mesa' was not found

$ paru --sync aur/mesa-git
:: Inner conflicts found:
    mesa: mesa-git (mesa)  mesa-git (mesa-libgl)  
    mesa-git: mesa (mesa-libgl)  

:: Conflicting packages will have to be confirmed manually

Repo (41)                       Old Version  New Version                                Make Only
(...)
extra/mesa                                   1:23.3.5-1                                 No
(...)

Once that's pulled in we can investigate the root cause:

$ pactree -r mesa
mesa
└─libglvnd
  ├─libva
  └─mesa

$ pactree -r libglvnd
libglvnd
├─libva
└─mesa
  └─libglvnd

$ paru --query --info mesa | grep 'Required'
Required By     : libglvnd

libglvnd is responsible for:

:: mesa-git and mesa are in conflict. Remove mesa? [y/N] 

This can also be confirmed with:

$ paru --sync libglvnd
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
warning: dependency cycle detected:
warning: mesa will be installed before its libglvnd dependency

---

Reported here: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mesa-git#comment-954811
And here: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/libglvnd/-/issues/2

---

This would be a killer-feature if Paru could detect such loops ahead of time

(Meaning if Paru had the ability to warn the user about libglvnd causing extra/mesa to be wrongfully included as a dependency as it conflicts with the target package, aur/mesa-git. The original Conflicts found sent me into a massive rabbit-hole since it wasn't clear what was going wrong. Only after hours of troubleshooting was I able to solve this dependency cycle).

[silikeite]

Having the same issue but with aur/fcitx5-mozc-ut's dependency on aur/mozc-ut, where paru insists on installing aur/mozc instead.

[GrabbenD]

Package maintainers believe it's package manager's duty to fix this loop: libglvnd/-/issues/2

Workaround

Hack 1

This is just useful for CI/CD.

Manually avoid child dependency libglvnd (of target/parent package aur/mesa-git) from installing the cirkular dependency (extra/mesa):

$ paru --sync --noconfirm --needed --assume-installed mesa,opengl-driver --asdeps libglvnd
$ paru --sync --noconfirm --needed aur/mesa-git

Hack 2

This allows CI/CD to automatically bypass build blocker (from --noconfirm) but you'll waste computational/disk resources on unneeded dependencies and possibly agree to wrong actions.

Unattendedly skip all prompts:

$ yes | paru --sync --needed aur/mesa-git