PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)
NAME
pacman - package manager utility
SYNOPSIS
pacman <operation> [options] [targets]
DESCRIPTION
Pacman is a package management utility that tracks installed packages
on a Linux system. It features dependency support, package groups,
install and uninstall scripts, and the ability to sync your local
machine with a remote repository to automatically upgrade packages.
Pacman packages are a zipped tar format.
Since version 3.0.0, pacman has been the front-end to libalpm(3), the
“Arch Linux Package Management” library. This library allows
alternative front-ends to be written (for instance, a GUI front-end).
Invoking pacman involves specifying an operation with any potential
options and targets to operate on. A target is usually a package name,
file name, URL, or a search string. Targets can be provided as command
line arguments. Additionally, if stdin is not from a terminal and a
single hyphen (-) is passed as an argument, targets will be read from
stdin.
OPERATIONS
-D, --database
Operate on the package database. This operation allows you to
modify certain attributes of the installed packages in pacman’s
database. It also allows you to check the databases for internal
consistency. See Database Options below.
-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 package files. In the first
case, if no package names are provided in the command line, all
installed packages will be queried. Additionally, various filters
can be applied on the package list. See Query Options below.
-R, --remove
Remove package(s) from the system. Groups can also be specified to
be removed, in which case every package in that group will be
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
(^).
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 allows you to 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.
--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.
--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
Disable the default 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.
TRANSACTION OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S, -R AND -U)
-d, --nodeps
Skips dependency version checks. Package names are still checked.
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. Specify this option twice to skip all
dependency checks.
--assume-installed <package=version>
Add a virtual package "package" with version "version" to the
transaction to satisfy dependencies. This allows disabling the
specific dependency checks without affecting all dependency checks.
To disable all dependency checking, see the --nodeps option.
--dbonly
Adds/removes the database entry only, leaving all files in place.
--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.
-p, --print
Only print the targets instead of performing the actual operation
(sync, remove or upgrade). Use --print-format to specify how
targets are displayed. The default format string is "%l", which
displays URLs with -S, file names with -U, and pkgname-pkgver with
-R.
--print-format <format>
Specify a printf-like format to control the output of the --print
operation. The possible attributes are: "%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 and "%R" for replaces.
Implies --print.
UPGRADE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S AND -U)
-w, --downloadonly
Retrieve all packages from the server, but do not install/upgrade
anything.
--asdeps
Install packages non-explicitly; in other words, fake their install
reason to be installed as a dependency. This is useful for makepkg
and other build-from-source tools that need to install dependencies
before building the package.
--asexplicit
Install packages explicitly; in other words, fake their install
reason to be explicitly installed. This is useful if you want to
mark a dependency as explicitly installed so it will not be removed
by the --recursive remove operation.
--ignore <package>
Directs pacman to ignore upgrades of package even if there is one
available. Multiple packages can be specified by separating them
with a comma.
--ignoregroup <group>
Directs pacman to ignore upgrades of all packages in group, even if
there is one available. Multiple groups can be specified by
separating them with a comma.
--needed
Do not reinstall the targets that are already up-to-date.
--overwrite <glob>
Bypass file conflict checks and overwrite conflicting files. If the
package that is about to be installed contains files that are
already installed and match glob, this option will cause all those
files to be overwritten. Using --overwrite will not allow
overwriting a directory with a file or installing packages with
conflicting files and directories. Multiple patterns can be
specified by separating them with a comma. May be specified
multiple times. Patterns can be negated, such that files matching
them will not be overwritten, by prefixing them with an exclamation
mark. Subsequent matches will override previous ones. A leading
literal exclamation mark or backslash needs to be escaped.
QUERY OPTIONS (APPLY TO -Q)
-c, --changelog
View the ChangeLog of a package if it exists.
-d, --deps
Restrict or filter output to packages installed as dependencies.
This option can be combined with -t for listing real orphans -
packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer
required by any installed package.
-e, --explicit
Restrict or filter output to explicitly installed packages. This
option can be combined with -t to list explicitly installed
packages that are not required by any other package.
-g, --groups
Display all packages that are members of a named group. If a name
is not 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. Passing
two --info or -i flags will also display the list of backup files
and their modification states.
-k, --check
Check that all files owned by the given package(s) are present on
the system. If packages are not specified or filter flags are not
provided, check all installed packages. Specifying this option
twice will perform more detailed file checking (including
permissions, file sizes, and modification times) for packages that
contain the needed mtree file.
-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 packages that were downloaded
manually and installed with --upgrade.
-n, --native
Restrict or filter output to packages that are found in the sync
database(s). This is the inverse filter of --foreign.
-o, --owns <file>
Search for packages that own the specified file(s). The path can be
relative or absolute, and one or more files can be specified.
-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.
-q, --quiet
Show less information for certain query operations. This is useful
when pacman’s output is processed in a script. Search will only
show package names and not version, group, and description
information; 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.
-s, --search <regexp>
Search each locally-installed package for names or descriptions
that match regexp. When including multiple search terms, only
packages with descriptions matching ALL of those terms are
returned.
-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 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.
REMOVE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -R)
-c, --cascade
Remove all target packages, as well as all packages that depend on
one or more target packages. This operation is recursive and must
be used with care, since it can remove many potentially needed
packages.
-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 of their dependencies,
provided that (A) they are not required by other packages; and (B)
they were not 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 want to omit
condition (B), pass this option twice.
-u, --unneeded
Removes targets that are not required by any other packages. This
is mostly useful when removing a group without using the -c option,
to avoid breaking any dependencies.
SYNC OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S)
-c, --clean
Remove packages that are no longer installed from the cache as well
as currently unused sync databases to free up disk space. When
pacman downloads packages, it saves them in a cache directory. In
addition, databases are saved for every sync DB you download from
and are not deleted even if they are removed from the configuration
file pacman.conf(5). Use one --clean switch to only remove packages
that are no longer installed; use two to remove all files from the
cache. In both cases, you will have a yes or no option to remove
packages and/or unused downloaded databases.
If you use a network shared cache, see the CleanMethod option in
pacman.conf(5).
-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 information on a given sync database package. Passing two
--info or -i flags will also display those packages in all
repositories that depend on this package.
-l, --list
List all packages in the specified repositories. Multiple
repositories can be specified on the command line.
-q, --quiet
Show less information for certain sync operations. This is useful
when pacman’s output is processed in a script. Search will only
show package names and not repository, version, group, and
description information; list will only show package names and omit
databases and versions; group will only show package names and omit
group names.
-s, --search <regexp>
This will search each package in the sync databases for names or
descriptions that match regexp. When you include multiple search
terms, only packages with descriptions matching ALL of those terms
will be returned.
-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.
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.
-y, --refresh
Download a fresh copy of the master package databases (repo.db)
from the server(s) defined in pacman.conf(5). 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 databases, even if
they appear to be up-to-date.
DATABASE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -D)
--asdeps <package>
Mark a package as non-explicitly installed; in other words, set
their install reason to be installed as a dependency.
--asexplicit <package>
Mark a package as explicitly installed; in other words, set their
install reason to be 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
Check the local package database is internally consistent. This
will check 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
Suppress messages on successful completion of database operations.
FILE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -F)
-y, --refresh
Download fresh package file databases (repo.files) from the server.
Use twice to force a refresh even if databases are up to date.
-l, --list
List the files owned by the queried package.
-x, --regex
Interpret each query as a regular expression.
-q, --quiet
Show 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
Print 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.
HANDLING CONFIG FILES
Pacman uses the same logic as rpm to determine action against files
that are designated to be backed up. During an upgrade, three 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 is about
to be installed, and one for the actual file existing on the file
system. After comparing these three hashes, the following 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 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.
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.
EXAMPLES
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.
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.
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.
Pacman 7.0.0 2025-06-03 PACMAN(8)
pacman \- package manager utility