PACMAN(8)

📦
version 7.1.0.r9.g54d9411 · 13 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 PACMAN(8) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the pacman manual, part one of three 🎀 this is the PACMAN(8) page from the Pacman Manual, and it's literally the whole vibe of Arch, no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

pacman — package manager utility 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

pacman <operation> [options] [targets]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so Pacman is a package management utility that keeps track of the installed packages on your Linux system. she's got range: dependency support, package groups, install and uninstall scripts, and the ability to sync your local machine with a remote repository so your packages just automatically upgrade themselves. icon behavior. 🦋 Pacman packages are a zipped tar format, iykyk.

Since version 3.0.0, pacman has been the front-end to libalpm(3), the “Arch Linux Package Management” library. and the way that means other front-ends can be written too — like, a GUI front-end could exist. main character library energy fr fr.

Invoking pacman means you're specifying an operation, plus any options and targets you wanna operate on. a target is usually a package name, file name, URL, or a search string. Targets go in as command line arguments. ALSO, important: if stdin is not from a terminal and a single hyphen (-) is passed as an argument, then targets will be read from stdin. noted. 📝

✨ OPERATIONS ✨

  • -D, --database — Operate on the package database. This operation lets you modify certain attributes of the installed packages in pacman's database. It also lets you check the databases for internal consistency. See Database Options below.
  • -Q, --query — Query the package database. This operation lets you view installed packages and their files, plus meta-information about individual packages (dependencies, conflicts, install date, build date, size). You can run this against the local package database or use it on individual package files. In the first case, if no package names are provided on the command line, all installed packages will be queried. Also, various filters can be applied on the package list. See Query Options below.
  • -R, --remove — Remove package(s) from the system. Groups can be specified too, and in that case every package in that group gets removed. Files belonging to the specified package will be deleted, and the database will be updated. Most configuration files will be saved with a .pacsave extension unless the --nosave option is used. See Remove Options below.
  • -S, --sync — Synchronize packages. Packages are installed directly from the remote repositories, including all dependencies required to run the packages. For example, pacman -S qt will download and install qt and all the packages it depends on. If a package name exists in more than one repository, the repository can be explicitly specified to clarify the package to install: pacman -S testing/qt. You can also specify version requirements: pacman -S "bash>=3.2". Quotes are needed, otherwise the shell interprets > as redirection to a file. 💀

In addition to packages, groups can be specified as well. For example, if gnome is a defined package group, then pacman -S gnome will provide a prompt allowing you to select which packages to install from a numbered list. The package selection is specified using a space- and/or comma-separated list of package numbers. Sequential packages may be selected by specifying the first and last package numbers separated by a hyphen (-). Excluding packages is achieved by prefixing a number or range of numbers with a caret (^). obsessed with this honestly.

Packages that provide other packages are also handled. For example, pacman -S foo will first look for a foo package. If foo is not found, packages that provide the same functionality as foo will be searched for. If any package is found, it will be installed. A selection prompt is provided if multiple packages providing foo are found.

You can also use pacman -Su to upgrade all packages that are out-of-date. See Sync Options below. When upgrading, pacman performs version comparison to determine which packages need upgrading. This behavior operates as follows:

Alphanumeric:
  1.0a < 1.0b < 1.0beta < 1.0p < 1.0pre < 1.0rc < 1.0 < 1.0.a < 1.0.1
Numeric:
  1 < 1.0 < 1.1 < 1.1.1 < 1.2 < 2.0 < 3.0.0

Additionally, version strings can have an epoch value defined that will overrule any version comparison, unless the epoch values are equal. This is specified in an epoch:version-rel format. For example, 2:1.0-1 is always greater than 1:3.6-1. 🫶

  • -T, --deptest — Check dependencies; this is useful in scripts such as makepkg to check installed packages. This operation will check each dependency specified and return a list of dependencies that are not currently satisfied on the system. This operation accepts no other options. Example usage: pacman -T qt "bash>=3.2".
  • -U, --upgrade — Upgrade or add package(s) to the system and install the required dependencies from sync repositories. Either a URL or file path can be specified. This is a “remove-then-add” process. See Upgrade Options below; also see Handling Config Files for an explanation on how pacman takes care of configuration files.
  • -F, --files — Query the files database. This operation lets you look for packages owning certain files, or display files owned by certain packages. Only packages that are part of your sync databases are searched. See File Options below.
  • -V, --version — Display version and exit.
  • -h, --help — Display syntax for the given operation. If no operation was supplied, then the general syntax is shown.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -b, --dbpath <path> — Specify an alternative database location (the default is /var/lib/pacman). This should not be used unless you know what you are doing. NOTE: If specified, this is an absolute path, and the root path is not automatically prepended.
  • -r, --root <path> — Specify an alternative installation root (default is /). This should not be used as a way to install software into /usr/local instead of /usr. NOTE: If database path or log file are not specified on either the command line or in pacman.conf(5), their default location will be inside this root path. NOTE: This option is not suitable for performing operations on a mounted guest system. See --sysroot instead.
  • -v, --verbose — Output paths such as the Root, Conf File, DB Path, Cache Dirs, etc. ✨
  • --arch <arch> — Specify an alternate architecture.
  • --cachedir <dir> — Specify an alternative package cache location (the default is /var/cache/pacman/pkg). Multiple cache directories can be specified, and they are tried in the order they are passed to pacman. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the root path is not automatically prepended. If DownloadUser is set in pacman.conf(5), then the specified user must have permission to access the cache directory.
  • --color <when> — Specify when to enable coloring. Valid options are always, never, or auto. always forces colors on; never forces colors off; and auto only automatically enables colors when outputting onto a tty.
  • --config <file> — Specify an alternate configuration file.
  • --debug — Display debug messages. When reporting bugs, this option is recommended to be used. 🐛
  • --gpgdir <dir> — Specify a directory of files used by GnuPG to verify package signatures (the default is /etc/pacman.d/gnupg). This directory should contain two files: pubring.gpg and trustdb.gpg. pubring.gpg holds the public keys of all packagers. trustdb.gpg contains a so-called trust database, which specifies that the keys are authentic and trusted. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the root path is not automatically prepended.
  • --hookdir <dir> — Specify a alternative directory containing hook files (the default is /etc/pacman.d/hooks). Multiple hook directories can be specified with hooks in later directories taking precedence over hooks in earlier directories. NOTE: This is an absolute path, and the root path is not automatically prepended.
  • --logfile <file> — Specify an alternate log file. This is an absolute path, regardless of the installation root setting.
  • --noconfirm — Bypass any and all “Are you sure?” messages. It's not a good idea to do this unless you want to run pacman from a script. 😭 like bestie please read what you're doing.
  • --confirm — Cancels the effects of a previous --noconfirm.
  • --disable-download-timeout — Disable defaults for low speed limit and timeout on downloads. Use this if you have issues downloading files with proxy and/or security gateway.
  • --sysroot <dir> — Specify an alternative system root. This path will be prepended to all other configuration directories and any repository servers beginning with file://. Any paths or URLs passed as targets will not be modified. This allows mounted guest systems to be properly operated on. 🧚
  • --disable-sandbox — Completely disables the sandbox applied to the process of downloading files on Linux systems. Equivalent to jointly specifying --disable-sandbox-filesystem and --disable-sandbox-syscalls.
  • --disable-sandbox-filesystem — Disable the filesystem restrictions part of the sandbox applied to the process downloading files on Linux systems. Useful if experiencing Landlock related failures while downloading files when running a Linux kernel that does not support this feature.
  • --disable-sandbox-syscalls — Disable the syscall filtering part of the sandbox applied to the process downloading files on Linux systems. Useful if experiencing seccomp related failures while downloading files when running a Linux kernel that does not support this feature.

that's part 1 bestie, part 2 is right there waiting for you 💜

💅 TRANSACTION OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S, -R AND -U) 💅

okay so these are the options that show up for the whole squad — sync, remove and upgrade all share them. very versatile, very main character. ✨

  • -d, --nodeps — skips dependency version checks. package names still get checked tho, don't get it twisted. normally pacman always be looking at a package's dependency fields to make sure all the deps are installed and there are no conflicts floating around in your system. pass this option twice to skip all dependency checks. yeah. twice. 💀
  • --assume-installed <package=version> — adds a virtual package called package with version version into the transaction so dependencies get satisfied. this is the ✨surgical✨ move: it lets you disable one specific dependency check without nuking every check in the building. if you wanna disable all dependency checking, go see --nodeps above, bestie.
  • --dbonly — adds/removes the database entry only, leaving all the actual files right where they are. database says one thing, your filesystem says another, and we're all just living with it. 🫶
  • --noprogressbar — no progress bar while downloading files. lowkey the move for scripts that call pacman and capture the output, because nobody wants a bar full of ##### in their logs. 🎀
  • --noscriptlet — if an install scriptlet exists, don't execute it. > ⚠️ do not use this unless you genuinely know what you're doing. i'm serious. this is not a vibe-check-and-see situation. 😭
  • -p, --print — only prints the targets instead of doing the actual operation (sync, remove or upgrade). use --print-format to say how targets get displayed. the default format string is "%l", which shows URLs with -S, file names with -U, and pkgname-pkgver with -R. it's giving "tell me what you would do" 👑
  • --print-format <format> — specify a printf-like format to control the output of the --print operation. the possible attributes are, in this exact order:
    • "%a" for arch
    • "%b" for builddate
    • "%d" for description
    • "%e" for pkgbase
    • "%f" for filename
    • "%g" for base64 encoded PGP signature
    • "%h" for sha256sum
    • "%m" for md5sum
    • "%n" for pkgname
    • "%p" for packager
    • "%v" for pkgver
    • "%l" for location
    • "%r" for repository
    • "%s" for size
    • "%C" for checkdepends
    • "%D" for depends
    • "%G" for groups
    • "%H" for conflicts
    • "%L" for licenses
    • "%M" for makedepends
    • "%O" for optional depends
    • "%P" for provides
    • "%R" for replaces

this one implies --print, so you don't gotta say both. 💖

🔥 UPGRADE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S AND -U) 🔥

for when you're syncing or upgrading. yes these two, no not remove. 💅

  • -w, --downloadonly — grab every package off the server, but install/upgrade nothing. just collecting them like little trinkets. 🌸
  • --asdeps — install packages non-explicitly; in other words, fake their install reason to be "installed as a dependency". this is literally made for makepkg and other build-from-source tools that need to install deps before they build the package. 🤝
  • --asexplicit — install packages explicitly; in other words, fake their install reason to be "explicitly installed". use this when you wanna mark a dependency as explicit so it does not get swept away by the --recursive remove operation. protect that little guy. 🛡️
  • --ignore <package> — tells pacman to ignore upgrades of package even if there's one available. you can list multiple packages by separating them with a comma. ✋
  • --ignoregroup <group> — tells pacman to ignore upgrades of every package in group, even if there's one available. multiple groups = comma separated. same energy, bigger scope. 🚫
  • --needed — don't reinstall the targets that are already up-to-date. we are not doing busywork today. 🙅
  • --overwrite <glob> — bypass file conflict checks and overwrite the conflicting files. if the package about to be installed contains files that are already installed and match glob, this option makes all those files get overwritten. heads up tho: --overwrite will not let you overwrite a directory with a file, and it won't let you install packages with conflicting files and directories. multiple patterns = comma separated. it can also be specified multiple times. patterns can be negated (so files matching them will not be overwritten) by prefixing them with an exclamation mark. subsequent matches override previous ones. a leading literal exclamation mark or backslash needs to be escaped. 😮‍💨

🔍 QUERY OPTIONS (APPLY TO -Q) 🔍

the detective arc. all of these are for -Q. 🔎

  • -c, --changelog — view the ChangeLog of a package, if one exists. receipts. 🧾
  • -d, --deps — restrict or filter the output to packages installed as dependencies. can be combined with -t to list real orphans — packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer required by any installed package. sad but free. 🦋
  • -e, --explicit — restrict or filter the output to explicitly installed packages. combine it with -t to list explicitly installed packages that aren't required by any other package. 💅
  • -g, --groups — display all packages that are members of a named group. if no name is specified, it lists all grouped packages. the whole friend group, assembled. 👯
  • -i, --info — display information on a given package. you can use the -p option if you're querying a package file instead of the local database. and if you pass two --info or -i flags, it'll also show you the list of backup files and their modification states. double the flag, double the lore. 📖
  • -k, --check — check that all files owned by the given package(s) are actually present on the system. if no packages are specified or no filter flags are provided, it checks all installed packages. specifying this option twice does a more detailed file check (including permissions, file sizes, and modification times) for packages that contain the needed mtree file. thorough queen. 🔍
  • -l, --list — list all files owned by a given package. multiple packages can be specified on the command line. 🗂️
  • -m, --foreign — restrict or filter output to packages that were not found in the sync database(s). typically these are the ones you downloaded manually and installed with --upgrade. they're from out of town. ✈️
  • -n, --native — restrict or filter output to packages that are found in the sync database(s). it's the exact inverse filter of --foreign. ⭐
  • -o, --owns <file> — search for packages that own the specified file(s). the path can be relative or absolute, and you can specify one or more files. whose is this?? 🕵️
  • -p, --file — signifies that the package supplied on the command line is a file and not an entry in the database. the file gets decompressed and queried. super useful in combination with --info and --list. 🎀
  • -q, --quiet — show less information for certain query operations. this one's made for when pacman's output gets processed in a script. here's the breakdown:
    • search will only show package names and not version, group, and description info
    • owns will only show package names instead of "file is owned by pkg" messages
    • group will only show package names and omit group names
    • list will only show files and omit package names
    • check will only show pairs of package names and missing files
    • a bare query will only show package names rather than names and versions

minimalism is a lifestyle. 🤫

  • -s, --search <regexp> — search each locally-installed package for names or descriptions that match regexp. when you include multiple search terms, only packages whose descriptions match ALL of those terms get returned. all of them. no partial credit. 💯
  • -t, --unrequired — restrict or filter output to print only packages neither required nor optionally required by any currently installed package. specify this option twice to also include packages which are optionally, but not directly, required by another package. 🌈
  • -u, --upgrades — restrict or filter output to packages that are out-of-date on the local system. only package versions are used to find outdated packages; replacements are not checked here. this option works best if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy. glow-up check ✨

🗑️ REMOVE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -R) 🗑️

for the deleting era. only -R gets these. 🫶

  • -c, --cascade — remove all target packages, plus every package that depends on one or more of the target packages. > ⚠️ this operation is recursive and must be used with care, because it can remove a whole bunch of potentially needed packages. it's giving "i only pulled one thread". 😭
  • -n, --nosave — tells pacman to ignore file backup designations. normally, when a file is removed from the system, the database gets checked to see if that file should be renamed with a .pacsave extension. this option says "nah, no keepsakes." 💀
  • -s, --recursive — removes each target specified including all of their dependencies, provided that (A) they aren't required by other packages, and (B) they weren't explicitly installed by the user. this operation is recursive and analogous to a backwards --sync operation, and it helps keep a clean system without orphans. if you wanna omit condition (B), pass this option twice. spring cleaning but make it ruthless 🧹
  • -u, --unneeded — removes targets that aren't required by any other packages. mostly useful when removing a group without using the -c option, so you avoid breaking any dependencies. polite deletion. 🎀

🔄 SYNC OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S)

These ones only do stuff when you're syncing, bestie. Lock in 💅

  • -c, --clean — bestie it's ✨cleanup time✨. This yeets packages that aren't installed anymore out of the cache, plus any currently unused sync databases, so you get disk space back. Here's the tea: when pacman downloads packages it stashes them in a cache directory, and it also saves a database for every sync DB you download from — and those databases do not get deleted even if you remove them from the config file pacman.conf(5). So: use one --clean switch to only remove packages that are no longer installed; use two to remove all files from the cache. Either way you get a yes-or-no prompt asking whether to remove packages and/or unused downloaded databases. 🧹
If you use a network shared cache, check out the CleanMethod option in pacman.conf(5).
  • -g, --groups — shows you every member of each package group you name. If you don't name any groups, it lists all of them; pass the flag twice to see all groups and their members. 👑
  • -i, --info — drops info on a given sync database package. Pass --info or -i twice and it'll also show you those packages in every repository that depends on this package. 🔍
  • -l, --list — lists all the packages in the repositories you specify. You can name multiple repositories on the command line, go off. 📋
  • -q, --quiet — shows less info for certain sync operations. Super useful when pacman's output is being processed in a script. Specifically: search will only show package names and not repository, version, group, and description info; list will only show package names and omit databases and versions; group will only show package names and omit group names. 🤫
  • -s, --search <regexp> — searches every package in the sync databases for names or descriptions that match regexp. And when you include multiple search terms, only packages with descriptions matching ALL of those terms get returned. No partial credit, periodt. 🔎
  • -u, --sysupgrade — upgrades all packages that are out-of-date. Every currently-installed package gets examined and upgraded if a newer package exists. You'll get a report of all packages to upgrade first, and the operation will not proceed without user confirmation. Dependencies are automatically resolved at this level and will be installed/upgraded if necessary. 🚀

Pass this option twice to enable package downgrades; in this case, pacman will select sync packages whose versions do not match with the local versions. This can be useful when the user switches from a testing repository to a stable one. 📉

Additional targets can also be specified manually, so that -Su foo will do a system upgrade and install/upgrade the foo package in the same operation. Two birds, one command. 🕊️

  • -y, --refresh — downloads a fresh copy of the master package databases (repo.db) from the server(s) defined in pacman.conf(5). You should typically use this every time you use --sysupgrade or -u. Passing two --refresh or -y flags will force a refresh of all package databases, even if they appear to be up-to-date. Forcing it, main character energy fr fr. 💫

🗄️ DATABASE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -D)

  • --asdeps <package> — marks a package as non-explicitly installed; in other words, sets its install reason to "installed as a dependency". 🫶
  • --asexplicit <package> — marks a package as explicitly installed; in other words, sets its install reason to "explicitly installed". This is useful if you want to keep a package installed even when it was initially installed as a dependency of another package. 💖
  • -k, --check — checks that the local package database is internally consistent. This checks all required files are present, and that installed packages have the required dependencies, do not conflict, and that multiple packages do not own the same file. Specifying this option twice will perform a check on the sync databases to ensure all specified dependencies are available. 🩺
  • -q, --quiet — suppresses messages on successful completion of database operations. Silent but slaying. 🤐

📁 FILE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -F)

  • -y, --refresh — downloads fresh package file databases (repo.files) from the server. Use it twice to force a refresh even if the databases are up to date. 🔄
  • -l, --list — lists the files owned by the queried package. 📄
  • -x, --regex — interprets each query as a regular expression. 🧠
  • -q, --quiet — shows less information for certain file operations. This is useful when pacman's output is processed in a script, however, you may want to use --machinereadable instead. 🤫
  • --machinereadable — prints each match in a machine readable output format. The format is repository\0pkgname\0pkgver\0path\n with \0 being the NULL character and \n a linefeed. Robots deserve nice things too. 🤖

🧬 HANDLING CONFIG FILES

Okay bestie, this part is lowkey iconic — pacman uses the same logic as rpm to decide what to do with files that are designated to be backed up. During an upgrade, three MD5 hashes are used for each backup file to figure out the required action: one for the original file installed, one for the new file that is about to be installed, and one for the actual file existing on the file system. After comparing these three hashes, here's what can go down:

  • original=X, current=X, new=X — all three files are the same, so overwrites are not an issue. Install the new file. ✨
  • original=X, current=X, new=Y — the current file is the same as the original, but the new one differs. Since the user did not ever modify the file, and the new one may contain improvements or bug fixes, install the new file. 💅
  • original=X, current=Y, new=X — both package versions contain the exact same file, but the one on the file system has been modified. Leave the current file in place. 🙅‍♀️
  • original=X, current=Y, new=Y — the new file is identical to the current file. Install the new file. 🎀
  • original=X, current=Y, new=Z — all three files are different, so install the new file with a .pacnew extension and warn the user. The user must then manually merge any necessary changes into the original file. You've been warned, bestie, that merge is on you. ⚠️
  • original=NULL, current=Y, new=Z — the package was not previously installed, and the file already exists on the file system. Install the new file with a .pacnew extension and warn the user. The user must then manually merge any necessary changes into the original file. Same deal, same drama. 😭

🌟 EXAMPLES

Real commands, real slay. Copy these exactly, they're verbatim:

  • pacman -Ss ne.hack

Search for regexp "ne.hack" in package database.

  • pacman -S gpm

Download and install gpm including dependencies.

  • pacman -U /home/user/ceofhack-0.6-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.gz

Install ceofhack-0.6-1 package from a local file.

  • pacman -Syu

Update package list and upgrade all packages afterwards.

  • pacman -Syu gpm

Update package list, upgrade all packages, and then install gpm if it wasn't already installed.

⚙️ CONFIGURATION

See pacman.conf(5) for more details on configuring pacman using the pacman.conf file. That's the whole glow-up manual, go read it. 🫶

👀 SEE ALSO

alpm-hooks(5), libalpm(3), makepkg(8), pacman.conf(5)

See the pacman website at https://archlinux.org/pacman/ for current information on pacman and its related tools. 🌐

🐛 BUGS

Bugs? You must be kidding; there are no bugs in this software. 💀 But if we happen to be wrong, please report them to the issue tracker at https://gitlab.archlinux.org/pacman/pacman/-/issues with specific information such as your command-line, the nature of the bug, and even the package database if it helps. Give us the receipts, bestie. 📝

👑 AUTHORS

Current maintainers:

  • Allan McRae <allan@archlinux.org>
  • Andrew Gregory <andrew.gregory.8@gmail.com>
  • Morgan Adamiec <morganamilo@archlinux.org>

Past major contributors:

  • Judd Vinet <jvinet@zeroflux.org>
  • Aurelien Foret <aurelien@archlinux.org>
  • Aaron Griffin <aaron@archlinux.org>
  • Dan McGee <dan@archlinux.org>
  • Xavier Chantry <shiningxc@gmail.com>
  • Nagy Gabor <ngaba@bibl.u-szeged.hu>
  • Dave Reisner <dreisner@archlinux.org>
  • Eli Schwartz <eschwartz@archlinux.org>

For additional contributors, use git shortlog -s on the pacman.git repository. 🫡

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀✨ this masterpiece is Pacman 7.1.0, dated 2026-10-15, and it's the PACMAN(8) manual — go forth and -Syu, you absolute icon 💖🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from