1PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)
2
6 pacman - package manager utility
7
9 pacman <operation> [options] [targets]
10
12 Pacman is a package management utility that tracks installed packages
13 on a Linux system. It features dependency support, package groups,
14 install and uninstall scripts, and the ability to sync your local
15 machine with a remote repository to automatically upgrade packages.
16 Pacman packages are a zipped tar format.
17 Since version 3.0.0, pacman has been the front-end to libalpm(3), the
19 “Arch Linux Package Management” library. This library allows
20 alternative front-ends to be written (for instance, a GUI front-end).
21 Invoking pacman involves specifying an operation with any potential
23 options and targets to operate on. A target is usually a package name,
24 file name, URL, or a search string. Targets can be provided as command
25 line arguments. Additionally, if stdin is not from a terminal and a
26 single hyphen (-) is passed as an argument, targets will be read from
27 stdin.
28
30 -D, --database
31 Operate on the package database. This operation allows you to
32 modify certain attributes of the installed packages in pacman’s
33 database. It also allows you to check the databases for internal
34 consistency. See Database Options below.
35 -Q, --query
37 Query the package database. This operation allows you to view
38 installed packages and their files, as well as meta-information
39 about individual packages (dependencies, conflicts, install date,
40 build date, size). This can be run against the local package
41 database or can be used on individual package files. In the first
42 case, if no package names are provided in the command line, all
43 installed packages will be queried. Additionally, various filters
44 can be applied on the package list. See Query Options below.
45 -R, --remove
47 Remove package(s) from the system. Groups can also be specified to
48 be removed, in which case every package in that group will be
49 removed. Files belonging to the specified package will be deleted,
50 and the database will be updated. Most configuration files will be
51 saved with a .pacsave extension unless the --nosave option is used.
52 See Remove Options below.
53 -S, --sync
55 Synchronize packages. Packages are installed directly from the
56 remote repositories, including all dependencies required to run the
57 packages. For example, pacman -S qt will download and install qt
58 and all the packages it depends on. If a package name exists in
59 more than one repository, the repository can be explicitly
60 specified to clarify the package to install: pacman -S testing/qt.
61 You can also specify version requirements: pacman -S "bash>=3.2".
62 Quotes are needed, otherwise the shell interprets ">" as
63 redirection to a file.
64 In addition to packages, groups can be specified as well. For
66 example, if gnome is a defined package group, then pacman -S gnome
67 will provide a prompt allowing you to select which packages to
68 install from a numbered list. The package selection is specified
69 using a space- and/or comma-separated list of package numbers.
70 Sequential packages may be selected by specifying the first and
71 last package numbers separated by a hyphen (-). Excluding packages
72 is achieved by prefixing a number or range of numbers with a caret
73 (^).
74 Packages that provide other packages are also handled. For example,
76 pacman -S foo will first look for a foo package. If foo is not
77 found, packages that provide the same functionality as foo will be
78 searched for. If any package is found, it will be installed. A
79 selection prompt is provided if multiple packages providing foo are
80 found.
81 You can also use pacman -Su to upgrade all packages that are
83 out-of-date. See Sync Options below. When upgrading, pacman
84 performs version comparison to determine which packages need
85 upgrading. This behavior operates as follows:
86 Alphanumeric:
88 1.0a < 1.0b < 1.0beta < 1.0p < 1.0pre < 1.0rc < 1.0 < 1.0.a < 1.0.1
89 Numeric:
90 1 < 1.0 < 1.1 < 1.1.1 < 1.2 < 2.0 < 3.0.0
91 Additionally, version strings can have an epoch value defined that
93 will overrule any version comparison, unless the epoch values are
94 equal. This is specified in an epoch:version-rel format. For
95 example, 2:1.0-1 is always greater than 1:3.6-1.
96 -T, --deptest
98 Check dependencies; this is useful in scripts such as makepkg to
99 check installed packages. This operation will check each dependency
100 specified and return a list of dependencies that are not currently
101 satisfied on the system. This operation accepts no other options.
102 Example usage: pacman -T qt "bash>=3.2".
103 -U, --upgrade
105 Upgrade or add package(s) to the system and install the required
106 dependencies from sync repositories. Either a URL or file path can
107 be specified. This is a “remove-then-add” process. See Upgrade
108 Options below; also see Handling Config Files for an explanation on
109 how pacman takes care of configuration files.
110 -F, --files
112 Query the files database. This operation allows you to look for
113 packages owning certain files or display files owned by certain
114 packages. Only packages that are part of your sync databases are
115 searched. See File Options below.
116 -V, --version
118 Display version and exit.
119 -h, --help
121 Display syntax for the given operation. If no operation was
122 supplied, then the general syntax is shown.
123
125 -b, --dbpath <path>
126 Specify an alternative database location (the default is
127 /var/lib/pacman). This should not be used unless you know what you
128 are doing. NOTE: If specified, this is an absolute path, and the
129 root path is not automatically prepended.
130 -r, --root <path>
132 Specify an alternative installation root (default is /). This
133 should not be used as a way to install software into /usr/local
134 instead of /usr. NOTE: If database path or log file are not
135 specified on either the command line or in pacman.conf(5), their
136 default location will be inside this root path. NOTE: This option
137 is not suitable for performing operations on a mounted guest
138 system. See --sysroot instead.
139 -v, --verbose
141 Output paths such as the Root, Conf File, DB Path, Cache Dirs, etc.
142 --arch <arch>
144 Specify an alternate architecture.
145 --cachedir <dir>
147 Specify an alternative package cache location (the default is
148 /var/cache/pacman/pkg). Multiple cache directories can be
149 specified, and they are tried in the order they are passed to
150 pacman. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the root path is not
151 automatically prepended.
152 --color <when>
154 Specify when to enable coloring. Valid options are always, never,
155 or auto. always forces colors on; never forces colors off; and
156 auto only automatically enables colors when outputting onto a tty.
157 --config <file>
159 Specify an alternate configuration file.
160 --debug
162 Display debug messages. When reporting bugs, this option is
163 recommended to be used.
164 --gpgdir <dir>
166 Specify a directory of files used by GnuPG to verify package
167 signatures (the default is /etc/pacman.d/gnupg). This directory
168 should contain two files: pubring.gpg and trustdb.gpg. pubring.gpg
169 holds the public keys of all packagers. trustdb.gpg contains a
170 so-called trust database, which specifies that the keys are
171 authentic and trusted. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the
172 root path is not automatically prepended.
173 --hookdir <dir>
175 Specify a alternative directory containing hook files (the default
176 is /etc/pacman.d/hooks). Multiple hook directories can be specified
177 with hooks in later directories taking precedence over hooks in
178 earlier directories. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the root
179 path is not automatically prepended.
180 --logfile <file>
182 Specify an alternate log file. This is an absolute path, regardless
183 of the installation root setting.
184 --noconfirm
186 Bypass any and all “Are you sure?” messages. It’s not a good idea
187 to do this unless you want to run pacman from a script.
188 --confirm
190 Cancels the effects of a previous --noconfirm.
191 --disable-download-timeout
193 Disable defaults for low speed limit and timeout on downloads. Use
194 this if you have issues downloading files with proxy and/or
195 security gateway.
196 --sysroot <dir>
198 Specify an alternative system root. Pacman will chroot and chdir
199 into the system root prior to running. This allows mounted guest
200 systems to be properly operated on. Any other paths given will be
201 interpreted as relative to the system root. Requires root
202 privileges.
203
205 -d, --nodeps
206 Skips dependency version checks. Package names are still checked.
207 Normally, pacman will always check a package’s dependency fields to
208 ensure that all dependencies are installed and there are no package
209 conflicts in the system. Specify this option twice to skip all
210 dependency checks.
211 --assume-installed <package=version>
213 Add a virtual package "package" with version "version" to the
214 transaction to satisfy dependencies. This allows to disable
215 specific dependency checks without affecting all dependency checks.
216 To disable all dependency checking, see the --nodeps option.
217 --dbonly
219 Adds/removes the database entry only, leaving all files in place.
220 --noprogressbar
222 Do not show a progress bar when downloading files. This can be
223 useful for scripts that call pacman and capture the output.
224 --noscriptlet
226 If an install scriptlet exists, do not execute it. Do not use this
227 unless you know what you are doing.
228 -p, --print
230 Only print the targets instead of performing the actual operation
231 (sync, remove or upgrade). Use --print-format to specify how
232 targets are displayed. The default format string is "%l", which
233 displays URLs with -S, file names with -U, and pkgname-pkgver with
234 -R.
235 --print-format <format>
237 Specify a printf-like format to control the output of the --print
238 operation. The possible attributes are: "%n" for pkgname, "%v" for
239 pkgver, "%l" for location, "%r" for repository, and "%s" for size.
240 Implies --print.
241
243 -w, --downloadonly
244 Retrieve all packages from the server, but do not install/upgrade
245 anything.
246 --asdeps
248 Install packages non-explicitly; in other words, fake their install
249 reason to be installed as a dependency. This is useful for makepkg
250 and other build-from-source tools that need to install dependencies
251 before building the package.
252 --asexplicit
254 Install packages explicitly; in other words, fake their install
255 reason to be explicitly installed. This is useful if you want to
256 mark a dependency as explicitly installed so it will not be removed
257 by the --recursive remove operation.
258 --ignore <package>
260 Directs pacman to ignore upgrades of package even if there is one
261 available. Multiple packages can be specified by separating them
262 with a comma.
263 --ignoregroup <group>
265 Directs pacman to ignore upgrades of all packages in group, even if
266 there is one available. Multiple groups can be specified by
267 separating them with a comma.
268 --needed
270 Do not reinstall the targets that are already up-to-date.
271 --overwrite <glob>
273 Bypass file conflict checks and overwrite conflicting files. If the
274 package that is about to be installed contains files that are
275 already installed and match glob, this option will cause all those
276 files to be overwritten. Using --overwrite will not allow
277 overwriting a directory with a file or installing packages with
278 conflicting files and directories. Multiple patterns can be
279 specified by separating them with a comma. May be specified
280 multiple times. Patterns can be negated, such that files matching
281 them will not be overwritten, by prefixing them with an exclamation
282 mark. Subsequent matches will override previous ones. A leading
283 literal exclamation mark or backslash needs to be escaped.
284
286 -c, --changelog
287 View the ChangeLog of a package if it exists.
288 -d, --deps
290 Restrict or filter output to packages installed as dependencies.
291 This option can be combined with -t for listing real orphans -
292 packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer
293 required by any installed package.
294 -e, --explicit
296 Restrict or filter output to explicitly installed packages. This
297 option can be combined with -t to list explicitly installed
298 packages that are not required by any other package.
299 -g, --groups
301 Display all packages that are members of a named group. If a name
302 is not specified, list all grouped packages.
303 -i, --info
305 Display information on a given package. The -p option can be used
306 if querying a package file instead of the local database. Passing
307 two --info or -i flags will also display the list of backup files
308 and their modification states.
309 -k, --check
311 Check that all files owned by the given package(s) are present on
312 the system. If packages are not specified or filter flags are not
313 provided, check all installed packages. Specifying this option
314 twice will perform more detailed file checking (including
315 permissions, file sizes, and modification times) for packages that
316 contain the needed mtree file.
317 -l, --list
319 List all files owned by a given package. Multiple packages can be
320 specified on the command line.
321 -m, --foreign
323 Restrict or filter output to packages that were not found in the
324 sync database(s). Typically these are packages that were downloaded
325 manually and installed with --upgrade.
326 -n, --native
328 Restrict or filter output to packages that are found in the sync
329 database(s). This is the inverse filter of --foreign.
330 -o, --owns <file>
332 Search for packages that own the specified file(s). The path can be
333 relative or absolute, and one or more files can be specified.
334 -p, --file
336 Signifies that the package supplied on the command line is a file
337 and not an entry in the database. The file will be decompressed and
338 queried. This is useful in combination with --info and --list.
339 -q, --quiet
341 Show less information for certain query operations. This is useful
342 when pacman’s output is processed in a script. Search will only
343 show package names and not version, group, and description
344 information; owns will only show package names instead of "file is
345 owned by pkg" messages; group will only show package names and omit
346 group names; list will only show files and omit package names;
347 check will only show pairs of package names and missing files; a
348 bare query will only show package names rather than names and
349 versions.
350 -s, --search <regexp>
352 Search each locally-installed package for names or descriptions
353 that match regexp. When including multiple search terms, only
354 packages with descriptions matching ALL of those terms are
355 returned.
356 -t, --unrequired
358 Restrict or filter output to print only packages neither required
359 nor optionally required by any currently installed package. Specify
360 this option twice to include packages which are optionally, but not
361 directly, required by another package.
362 -u, --upgrades
364 Restrict or filter output to packages that are out-of-date on the
365 local system. Only package versions are used to find outdated
366 packages; replacements are not checked here. This option works best
367 if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.
368
370 -c, --cascade
371 Remove all target packages, as well as all packages that depend on
372 one or more target packages. This operation is recursive and must
373 be used with care, since it can remove many potentially needed
374 packages.
375 -n, --nosave
377 Instructs pacman to ignore file backup designations. Normally, when
378 a file is removed from the system, the database is checked to see
379 if the file should be renamed with a .pacsave extension.
380 -s, --recursive
382 Remove each target specified including all of their dependencies,
383 provided that (A) they are not required by other packages; and (B)
384 they were not explicitly installed by the user. This operation is
385 recursive and analogous to a backwards --sync operation, and it
386 helps keep a clean system without orphans. If you want to omit
387 condition (B), pass this option twice.
388 -u, --unneeded
390 Removes targets that are not required by any other packages. This
391 is mostly useful when removing a group without using the -c option,
392 to avoid breaking any dependencies.
393
395 -c, --clean
396 Remove packages that are no longer installed from the cache as well
397 as currently unused sync databases to free up disk space. When
398 pacman downloads packages, it saves them in a cache directory. In
399 addition, databases are saved for every sync DB you download from
400 and are not deleted even if they are removed from the configuration
401 file pacman.conf(5). Use one --clean switch to only remove packages
402 that are no longer installed; use two to remove all files from the
403 cache. In both cases, you will have a yes or no option to remove
404 packages and/or unused downloaded databases.
405 If you use a network shared cache, see the CleanMethod option in
407 pacman.conf(5).
408 -g, --groups
410 Display all the members for each package group specified. If no
411 group names are provided, all groups will be listed; pass the flag
412 twice to view all groups and their members.
413 -i, --info
415 Display information on a given sync database package. Passing two
416 --info or -i flags will also display those packages in all
417 repositories that depend on this package.
418 -l, --list
420 List all packages in the specified repositories. Multiple
421 repositories can be specified on the command line.
422 -q, --quiet
424 Show less information for certain sync operations. This is useful
425 when pacman’s output is processed in a script. Search will only
426 show package names and not repository, version, group, and
427 description information; list will only show package names and omit
428 databases and versions; group will only show package names and omit
429 group names.
430 -s, --search <regexp>
432 This will search each package in the sync databases for names or
433 descriptions that match regexp. When you include multiple search
434 terms, only packages with descriptions matching ALL of those terms
435 will be returned.
436 -u, --sysupgrade
438 Upgrades all packages that are out-of-date. Each
439 currently-installed package will be examined and upgraded if a
440 newer package exists. A report of all packages to upgrade will be
441 presented, and the operation will not proceed without user
442 confirmation. Dependencies are automatically resolved at this level
443 and will be installed/upgraded if necessary.
444 Pass this option twice to enable package downgrades; in this case,
446 pacman will select sync packages whose versions do not match with
447 the local versions. This can be useful when the user switches from
448 a testing repository to a stable one.
449 Additional targets can also be specified manually, so that -Su foo
451 will do a system upgrade and install/upgrade the "foo" package in
452 the same operation.
453 -y, --refresh
455 Download a fresh copy of the master package database from the
456 server(s) defined in pacman.conf(5). This should typically be used
457 each time you use --sysupgrade or -u. Passing two --refresh or -y
458 flags will force a refresh of all package databases, even if they
459 appear to be up-to-date.
460
462 --asdeps <package>
463 Mark a package as non-explicitly installed; in other words, set
464 their install reason to be installed as a dependency.
465 --asexplicit <package>
467 Mark a package as explicitly installed; in other words, set their
468 install reason to be explicitly installed. This is useful if you
469 want to keep a package installed even when it was initially
470 installed as a dependency of another package.
471 -k, --check
473 Check the local package database is internally consistent. This
474 will check all required files are present and that installed
475 packages have the required dependencies, do not conflict and that
476 multiple packages do not own the same file. Specifying this option
477 twice will perform a check on the sync databases to ensure all
478 specified dependencies are available.
479 -q, --quiet
481 Suppress messages on successful completion of database operations.
482
484 -y, --refresh
485 Download fresh package databases from the server. Use twice to
486 force a refresh even if databases are up to date.
487 -l, --list
489 List the files owned by the queried package.
490 -x, --regex
492 Interpret each query as a regular expression.
493 -q, --quiet
495 Show less information for certain file operations. This is useful
496 when pacman’s output is processed in a script, however, you may
497 want to use --machinereadable instead.
498 --machinereadable
500 Print each match in a machine readable output format. The format is
501 repository\0pkgname\0pkgver\0path\n with \0 being the NULL
502 character and \n a linefeed.
503
505 Pacman uses the same logic as rpm to determine action against files
506 that are designated to be backed up. During an upgrade, three MD5
507 hashes are used for each backup file to determine the required action:
508 one for the original file installed, one for the new file that is about
509 to be installed, and one for the actual file existing on the file
510 system. After comparing these three hashes, the following scenarios can
511 result:
512 original=X, current=X, new=X
514 All three files are the same, so overwrites are not an issue.
515 Install the new file.
516 original=X, current=X, new=Y
518 The current file is the same as the original, but the new one
519 differs. Since the user did not ever modify the file, and the new
520 one may contain improvements or bug fixes, install the new file.
521 original=X, current=Y, new=X
523 Both package versions contain the exact same file, but the one on
524 the file system has been modified. Leave the current file in place.
525 original=X, current=Y, new=Y
527 The new file is identical to the current file. Install the new
528 file.
529 original=X, current=Y, new=Z
531 All three files are different, so install the new file with a
532 .pacnew extension and warn the user. The user must then manually
533 merge any necessary changes into the original file.
534 original=NULL, current=Y, new=Z
536 The package was not previously installed, and the file already
537 exists on the file system. Install the new file with a .pacnew
538 extension and warn the user. The user must then manually merge any
539 necessary changes into the original file.
540
542 pacman -Ss ne.hack
543 Search for regexp "ne.hack" in package database.
544 pacman -S gpm
546 Download and install gpm including dependencies.
547 pacman -U /home/user/ceofhack-0.6-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.gz
549 Install ceofhack-0.6-1 package from a local file.
550 pacman -Syu
552 Update package list and upgrade all packages afterwards.
553 pacman -Syu gpm
555 Update package list, upgrade all packages, and then install gpm if
556 it wasn’t already installed.
557
559 See pacman.conf(5) for more details on configuring pacman using the
560 pacman.conf file.
561
563 alpm-hooks(5), libalpm(3), makepkg(8), pacman.conf(5)
564 See the pacman website at https://archlinux.org/pacman/ for current
566 information on pacman and its related tools.
567
569 Bugs? You must be kidding; there are no bugs in this software. But if
570 we happen to be wrong, submit a bug report with as much detail as
571 possible at the Arch Linux Bug Tracker in the Pacman section.
572
574 Current maintainers:
575 • Allan McRae <allan@archlinux.org>
577 • Andrew Gregory <andrew.gregory.8@gmail.com>
579 • Eli Schwartz <eschwartz@archlinux.org>
581 • Morgan Adamiec <morganamilo@archlinux.org>
583 Past major contributors:
585 • Judd Vinet <jvinet@zeroflux.org>
587 • Aurelien Foret <aurelien@archlinux.org>
589 • Aaron Griffin <aaron@archlinux.org>
591 • Dan McGee <dan@archlinux.org>
593 • Xavier Chantry <shiningxc@gmail.com>
595 • Nagy Gabor <ngaba@bibl.u-szeged.hu>
597 • Dave Reisner <dreisner@archlinux.org>
599 For additional contributors, use git shortlog -s on the pacman.git
601 repository.
602Pacman 6.0.1 2022-07-22 PACMAN(8)