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** Conda Fails to Create a new env: stuck at "Executing transaction"**

I am working with a MacOS, BigSur 11.6, and have updated conda and mamba

conda update --all

conda update mamba

and, following guidance from a software installation guide I tried to create a new env:

conda create -n fermi -c conda-forge -c fermi fermitools python=3 clhep=2.4.4.1

Also tried with the dev version:

conda create -n fermi-2.0.24 -c conda-forge -c fermi/label/dev fermitools=2.0.24

and with mamba

mamba create -n fermi -c conda-forge -c fermi fermitools python=3 clhep=2.4.4.1

All trials get stuck in " executing transaction \ " (> 1h)

when hitting ctrl+c, all trials show the same error msg:

" ERROR conda.core.link:_execute(699): An error occurred while installing package 'conda-forge::gdk-pixbuf-2.42.6-h2e6141f_0'. " " Rolling back transaction: done "

my uname -v:

Darwin Kernel Version 20.6.0: Mon Aug 30 06:12:21 PDT 2021; root:xnu-7195.141.6~3/RELEASE_X86_64

my conda --version

conda 4.10.3

There seems to be a long standing discussion about similar issues here. Some argue that hitting "enter" solved the problem after " executing transaction \ " was running for a long time. It would be great, but did not worked.

The issue #6986 seems to persist and it is not clear how to deal with it.

Any ideas on how to approach this? Thank you in advance!

Diving
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    Does `conda create -n foo -c conda-forge gdk-pixbuf=2.42.6=h2e6141f_0` work on its own? BTW, I cannot replicate this problem in MacOS 10.14 - everything just works, both from bash and zsh shells. – merv Sep 15 '21 at 21:44
  • Hi @merv, thank you for writing. Yes, ``conda create -n foo -c conda-forge gdk-pixbuf=2.42.6=h2e6141f_0`` worked. "To activate this environment, use conda activate foo" . – Diving Sep 15 '21 at 23:35
  • @merv, I tired to ``conda activate foo`` , and then ``conda create -n fermi-2.0.24 -c conda-forge -c fermi/label/dev fermitools=2.0.24`` , but the issue remains the same. And when I hit ctrl+c to stop the process, I get the same msg as before: " ERROR conda.core.link:_execute(699): An error occurred while installing package 'conda-forge::gdk-pixbuf-2.42.6-h2e6141f_0'. " " Rolling back transaction: done " – Diving Sep 17 '21 at 00:03
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    But that's not any different from your original command, since you are doing **create**. Maybe try preinstalling the `gdk-pixbuf` package, then `conda install` in that environment. – merv Sep 17 '21 at 00:11
  • Hi @merv, thank you again. Now, I created the envs/fermi folder by hand: ``mkdir /opt/anaconda3/envs/fermi`` then, preinstall gdk-pixbuf-2.42.6-h2e6141f_0 pack (from conda-forge channel) at envs/fermi. ``conda install gdk-pixbuf=2.42.6=h2e6141f_0 -c conda-forge -n fermi`` . Then, I used install instead of create (since env/fermi is already there). ``conda install -n fermi --file [path]/spec-file.txt``, where the spec-file has all dependences solved for MacOS BigSur 11.6 (provided by someone else trying to help with the issue). – Diving Sep 17 '21 at 12:31
  • This time, the process get stuck, and after ctrl+c, got the following msg: Executing transaction: / \ / \ / done ERROR conda.core.link:_execute(699): An error occurred while installing package 'conda-forge::librsvg-2.50.7-hd2a7919_0'. Rolling back transaction: | \ done . Again, I tried to pre-install librsvg=2.50.7=hd2a7919_0 as you mention, and try to run the complete installation again. A second time, it gets stuck, and I also had to pre-install graphviz-2.49.0=h77de9ca_0. A third time, it gets stuck at the same point. But now, when I abort with ctrl+c, there is no error msg. – Diving Sep 17 '21 at 12:32
  • when I ``conda activate myenv``, it goes with no error msg. But, when I try to call routines from myenv, I get 'zsh: command not found: env_routine' – Diving Sep 17 '21 at 12:37

2 Answers2

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Looking for resources on the error " Solving environment: failed with current_repodata.json, will retry with next repodata source. "

Then, reading: link1 , link2 , link3 (check the comment from "glass-ships") , link4

It seems the following can help:

conda update conda -c conda-canary

conda config --set channel_priority false

conda create --name your_env_name

conda activate your_env_name

conda install XXXXXX

then conda activate your_env_name and the tool is working just fine.

Diving
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    not sure i had exactly the same issue, but for me the problem of conda stuck on solving environment when trying to create a new env was apparently due to the fact that i did not activate an environment before that. doing `conda activate` before `conda create` solved the issue for me (in my installation the base environment of conda is not activated by default). – Jean Paul Aug 11 '22 at 06:10
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This is what worked for me. Set the conda channel_priority to flexible in the conda configuration

conda config --set channel_priority flexible

Gauranga
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