ALPM-META-PACKAGE(7)

📦 version 0.13.0, in arch rolling

okay so welcome to ALPM-META-PACKAGE(7) from the Miscellaneous Information Manual, section 7 — yes bestie, it’s manpage time but make it group chat 💅✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

meta package — an ALPM based package that solely defines package relations. that’s literally the whole concept: no files, just package-relation energy 🎀

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so meta packages are ALPM based packages that do not provide files, but instead only define package relations. think less “here’s a binary” and more “here’s the guest list” 📝💅

They’re used for defining the required package relations of an abstract scenario or use-case — for example “packages for a minimum system installation” or “all packages needed for a special development environment”. abstract concept? slay. package relations? also slay. 🧚

Meta packages are handled like any other ALPM based package by a package manager, and they require their various package relations upon installation. so your package manager treats them normal, but on install they pull their required package relations in. no cap 🫶

A -meta suffix may be used in the alpm-package-name to more easily distinguish meta packages from other packages. cute little name tag, iykyk 🏷️✨

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

The following PKGBUILD example defines a meta package that, upon installation, pulls in the bash and gcc-libs packages. it’s giving “no files, full friend group” 😭💖

pkgname=example-meta
pkgver=0.1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="A meta package example"
arch=(any)
url="https://archlinux.org"
license=('GPL-3.0-or-later')
depends=(
  bash
  gcc-libs
)

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read these too, bestie — they’re the lore 💜

that’s the whole page, bestie — from the Miscellaneous Information Manual, section (7). footer check: it’s just that section-number moment, with no extra source/version/date line to report, and that’s on periodt 🫶💅💖✨

📦 where this page comes from