apk-fetch(8)

💅 apk-fetch — like, the manual page bestie

okay so this is apk-fetch(8), straight out of the System Manager's Manual bestie, and it's genuinely one of my fave little tools. no cap. let's get into it 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

apk fetch — download packages from global repositories to a local directory 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

apk fetch [<options>...] packages...

like, options first, then the packages you want. that's the whole vibe 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

apk fetch downloads the packages you asked for from the configured package repositories (peep apk-repositories(5) for how those get configured, iykyk) and drops them into a local directory 📦

and the destination directory? it's just wherever you're standing rn — the current working directory — unless you pass -o, in which case it goes wherever you tell it to. main character energy fr fr ✨

✨ OPTIONS ✨

so besides the global options (those live in apk(8), go look 👀) and the query options (those are in apk-query(8), obsessed with her), you also get these:

• --built-after TIMESPEC — only fetch packages whose buildtime is more recent than TIMESPEC ⏰ TIMESPEC can be a "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" date, or just seconds since epoch. either way, slay.
• --link, -l — create hard links if possible 🔗 (yes bestie, link it up)
• --pkgname-spec PKGNAME_SPEC — generate the downloaded package names using the PKGNAME_SPEC specification 🏷️

heads up though: this does not work with --prune unless the specification starts with ${name}[-_.]. that's the rule, don't shoot the messenger 😭

• --output, -o _DIR_ — write the downloaded file(s) to DIR 📁 the glow-up of "just put it wherever I'm standing"
• --simulate[=BOOL] — simulate the requested operation without making any changes 🙈 like a dress rehearsal, no commitment

Note: this option is unreliable if the needed indexes aren't up-to-date, because it omits refreshing or downloading of missing indexes. so like… it might lie to you a little 💀

• --stdout, -s — dump the .apk file(s) to stdout 📤 straight to the terminal, no file, no problem

Note: this option is incompatible with -o, -R, and the global --progress option. they do not get along. it's giving incompatible energies 😤

• --url — print the full URL for the downloaded packages 🌐 so you can see exactly where they came from, iconic

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and that's the whole page bestie, every last crumb 🍓

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kisses, this was apk-fetch(8) from the System Manager's Manual, dated 2026-11-02 — go download something cute 💜✨