Provided by: pacman-package-manager_6.0.1-4_amd64 
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. Pacman will chroot and chdir into the system root
prior to running. This allows mounted guest systems to be properly operated on. Any
other paths given will be interpreted as relative to the system root. Requires root
privileges.
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 to disable 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: "%n" for pkgname, "%v" for pkgver, "%l" for location, "%r"
for repository, and "%s" for size. 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 database 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 databases 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, submit a bug report with as much detail as possible at the Arch Linux Bug Tracker
in the Pacman section.
AUTHORS
Current maintainers:
• Allan McRae <allan@archlinux.org>
• Andrew Gregory <andrew.gregory.8@gmail.com>
• Eli Schwartz <eschwartz@archlinux.org>
• 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>
For additional contributors, use git shortlog -s on the pacman.git repository.