pacman/doc/pacman.8.txt

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pacman(8)
=========

Name
----
pacman - package manager utility


Synopsis
--------
'pacman' <operation> [options] [packages]


Description
-----------
Pacman is a package management utility that tracks installed packages on a Linux
system. It features dependency support, package groups, install and uninstall
hooks, and the ability to sync your local machine with a remote ftp server to
automatically upgrade packages. Pacman packages are a zipped tar format.

Since version 3.0.0, pacman has been the frontend to manlink:libalpm[3], the
"Arch Linux Package Management" library. This library allows alternative front
ends to be written (for instance, a GUI front end).


Operations
----------
*-A, --add* (deprecated)::
	Add a package to the system. Either a URL or file path can be specified.
	The package will be uncompressed into the installation root and the
	database will be updated. The package will not be installed if another
	version is already installed. *NOTE*: please use `--upgrade` in place of
	this option.

*-F, --freshen*::
	This is like `--upgrade` except it will only upgrade packages already
	installed on the system.

*-Q, --query*::
	Query the package database. This operation allows you to view installed
	packages and their files, as well as meta-information about individual
	packages (dependencies, conflicts, install date, build date, size). This
	can be run against the local package database or can be used on
	individual `.tar.gz` packages. See <<QO,Query Options>> below.

*-R, --remove*::
	Remove a package from the system. 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 <<RO,Remove Options>> below.

*-S, --sync*::
	Synchronize packages. Packages are installed directly from the ftp
	servers, 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. You can also use `pacman -Su` to upgrade all
	packages that are out of date. See <<SO,Sync Options>> below.

*-U, --upgrade*::
	Upgrade or add a package to the system. Either a URL or file path can be
	specified. This is a "remove-then-add" process. See
	<<HCF,Handling Config Files>> for an explanation on how
	pacman takes care of config files.

*-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
-------
*--ask* <'number'>::
	Pre-specify answers to questions. It is doubtful whether this option
	even works, so I would not recommend using it. *TODO*: document this
	more, as I have no idea how it works or when you would use it, or if we
	should just dump it.

*-b, --dbpath* <'path'>::
	Specify an alternative database location (default is `/var/lib/pacman`).
	This should not be used unless you know what you are doing.

*-d, --nodeps*::
	Skips all dependency checks. Normally, pacman will always check a
	package's dependency fields to ensure that all dependencies are
	installed and there are no package conflicts in the system.

*-f, --force*::
	Bypass file conflict checks and overwrite conflicting files. If the
	package that is about to be installed contains files that are already
	installed, this option will cause all those files to be overwritten.
	This option should be used with care, ideally not at all.

*-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`. This option is used if you want to install a package on a
	temporary mounted partition which is "owned" by another system. By using
	this option you not only specify where the software should be installed,
	but you also specify which package database and cache location to use.

*-v, --verbose*::
	Output more status messages, such as the Root and DBPath.

*--cachedir* <'dir'>::
	Specify an alternative package cache location (default is
	`/var/cache/pacman/pkg`). This should not be used unless you know what
	you are doing.

*--config* <'file'>::
	Specify an alternate configuration file.

*--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.

*--noprogressbar*::
	Do not show a progress bar when downloading files. This can be useful
	for scripts that call pacman and capture the output.

*--noscriptlet*::
	If an install scriptlet exists, do not execute it. Do not use this
	unless you know what you are doing.


Query Options[[QO]]
-------------------
*-c, --changelog*::
	View the ChangeLog of a package. Not every package will provide one but
	it will be shown if available.

*-e, --orphans*::
	List all packages that were pulled in by a previously installed package
	but no longer required by any installed package.

*-g, --groups*::
	Display all packages that are members of a named group. If not name is
	specified, list all grouped packages.

*-i, --info*::
	Display information on a given package. The `-p` option can be used if
	querying a package file instead of the local database.

*-l, --list*::
	List all files owned by a given package. Multiple packages can be
	specified on the command line.

*-m, --foreign*::
	List all packages that were not found in the sync database(s). Typically
	these are packages that were downloaded manually and installed with
	`--upgrade`.

*-o, --owns* <'file'>::
	Search for the package that owns file.

*-p, --file*::
	Signifies that the package supplied on the command line is a file and
	not an entry in the database. The file will be decompressed and queried.
	This is useful in combination with `--info` and `--list`.

*-s, --search* <'regexp'>::
	This will search each locally-installed package for names or
	descriptions that matche regexp.

*-u, --upgrades*::
	Lists all packages that are out of date on the local system. This option
	works best if the sync database is refreshed using `-Sy`.


Remove Options[[RO]]
--------------------
*-c, --cascade*::
	Remove all target packages, as well as all packages that depend on one
	or more target packages. This operation is recursive.

*-k, --keep*::
	Removes the database entry only. Leaves all files in place.

*-n, --nosave*::
	Instructs pacman to ignore file backup designations. Normally, when a
	file is removed from the system the database is checked to see if the
	file should be renamed with a .pacsave extension.

*-s, --recursive*::
	Remove each target specified including all dependencies, provided that
	(A) they are not required by other packages; and (B) they were not
	explicitly installed by the user. This option is analogous to a
	backwards `--sync` operation.


Sync Options[[SO]]
------------------
*-c, --clean*::
	Remove old packages from the cache to free up disk space. When pacman
	downloads packages, it saves them in `/var/cache/pacman/pkg`. Use one
	`--clean` switch to remove old packages; use two to remove all packages
	from the cache.

*-e, --dependsonly*::
	Install all dependencies of a package, but not the specified package
	itself. This is pretty useless and we're not sure why it even exists.

*-g, --groups*::
	Display all the members for each package group specified. If no group
	names are provided, all groups will be listed; pass the flag twice to
	view all groups and their members.

*-i, --info*::
	Display dependency and other information for a given package. This will
	search through all repositories for a matching package.

*-l, --list*::
	List all packages in the specified repositories. Multiple repositories
	can be specified on the command line.

*-p, --print-uris*::
	Print out URIs for each package that will be installed, including any
	dependencies yet to be installed. These can be piped to a file and
	downloaded at a later time, using a program like wget.

*-s, --search* <'regexp'>::
	This will search each package in the sync databases for names or
	descriptions that match regexp.

*-u, --sysupgrade*::
	Upgrades all packages that are out of date. Each currently-installed
	package will be examined and upgraded if a newer package exists. A
	report of all packages to upgrade will be presented and  the operation
	will not proceed without user confirmation. Dependencies are
	automatically resolved at this level and will be installed/upgraded if
	necessary.

*-w, --downloadonly*::
	Retrieve all packages from the server, but do not install/upgrade
	anything.

*-y, --refresh*::
	Download a fresh copy of the master package list from the server(s)
	defined in pacman.conf. This should typically be used each time you use
	`--sysupgrade` or `-u`. Passing two `--refresh` or `-y` flags will force
	a refresh of all package lists even if they are thought to be up to date.

*--ignore* <'package'>::
	Directs pacman to ignore upgrades of package even if there is one
	available.


Handling Config Files[[HCF]]
----------------------------
Pacman uses the same logic as rpm to determine action against files that are
designated to be backed up. During an upgrade, 3 md5 hashes are used for each
backup file to determine the required action: one for the original file
installed, one for the new file that's about to be installed, and one for the
actual file existing on the filesystem. After comparing these 3 hashes, the
follow scenarios can result:

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 bugfixes, install the new file.

original=X, current=Y, new=X::
	Both package versions contain the exact same file, but the one on the
	filesystem 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.


Configuration
-------------
See manlink:pacman.conf[5] for more details on configuring pacman using the
`pacman.conf` file.


See Also
--------
manlink:pacman.conf[5], manlink:makepkg[8], manlink:libalpm[3]

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