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 frontend to libalpm(3), the Arch Linux Package Management
library. This library allows alternative frontends to be written (for instance, a GUI frontend).

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 pacmans 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 metainformation 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 commaseparated 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.

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 1

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

You can also use pacman Su to upgrade all packages that are outofdate. 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:versionrel format. For
example, 2:1.01 is always greater than 1:3.61.
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 removethenadd 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 (a typical 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. This option is used if you want to install a package on a
temporarily mounted partition that is "owned" by another system. 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.
v, verbose
Output paths such as as the Root, Conf File, DB Path, Cache Dirs, etc.
arch <arch>
Specify an alternate architecture.
cachedir <dir>
Specify an alternative package cache location (a typical 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>

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 2

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

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 (a typical 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 socalled 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 (a typical 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. Its not a good idea to do this unless you want to run
pacman from a script.
confirm
Cancels the effects of a previous noconfirm.
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 packages 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.
assumeinstalled <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
printformat to specify how targets are displayed. The default format string is "%l", which
displays URLs with S, file names with U, and pkgnamepkgver with R.
printformat <format>
Specify a printflike 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.

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 3

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

UPGRADE OPTIONS (APPLY TO S AND U)

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. Using
force will not allow overwriting a directory with a file or installing packages with conflicting files
and directories. This option should be used with care, ideally not at all.
asdeps
Install packages nonexplicitly; in other words, fake their install reason to be installed as a
dependency. This is useful for makepkg and other buildfromsource 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 uptodate.
QUERY OPTIONS
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.

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 4

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

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 pacmans 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 locallyinstalled 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 packages not required or optionally required by any currently installed
package. Specify this option twice to only filter packages that are direct dependencies (i.e. do not filter
optional dependencies).
u, upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are outofdate 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
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
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

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 5

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

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 pacmans 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 outofdate. Each currentlyinstalled 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.
w, downloadonly
Retrieve all packages from the server, but do not install/upgrade anything.
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 uptodate.
DATABASE OPTIONS
asdeps <package>
Mark a package as nonexplicitly 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 it 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

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 6

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

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.
FILE OPTIONS
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.
s, search
Search package file names for matching strings.
x, regex
Treat arguments to search as regular expressions.
o, owns
Search for packages that own a particular file.
q, quiet
Show less information for certain file operations. This is useful when pacmans output is processed in
a script, however, you may want to use machinereadable instead.
machinereadable
Use a machine readable output format for list, search and owns. 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 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 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/ceofhack0.61x86_64.pkg.tar.gz

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 7

PACMAN(8) Pacman Manual PACMAN(8)

Install ceofhack0.61 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 wasnt already installed.
CONFIGURATION
See pacman.conf(5) for more details on configuring pacman using the pacman.conf file.
SEE ALSO
pacman.conf(5), makepkg(8), libalpm(3)

See the pacman website at https://www.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, send us an
email with as much detail as possible to [email protected].
AUTHORS
Current maintainers:
Allan McRae <[email protected]>
Andrew Gregory <[email protected]>
Dan McGee <[email protected]>
Dave Reisner <[email protected]>

Past major contributors:

Judd Vinet <[email protected]>
Aurelien Foret <[email protected]>
Aaron Griffin <[email protected]>
Xavier Chantry <[email protected]>
Nagy Gabor <[email protected]>

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

Pacman 5.0.1 20160223 8