Improve download and database access speed
Ranking mirrors
This command will rank your mirrors by speed and will filter the out of date mirrors.
pacman-mirrors -g
- You should sync the database after running this command by using:
pacman -Syy
Fasttrack your mirrorlist
From v4 this command will return a number of up-to-date and responsive mirrors
pacman-mirrors -f 5
- Check your version with pacman-mirrors -v
- You should sync the database after running this command by using:
pacman -Syy
Optimize the database access speed
For full benefit, run this command after syncing the database.
pacman-optimize && sync
Attention: This command defragments Pacman's database, which
boosts performance on slow hard drives but is harmful on SSDs. So, do
not use this command on SSDs!
Syncing and Updating
Sync the database
pacman -Sy
- You can force sync the database using the following command. It
means, the database will be synced even if it's up to date. This is
useful when you changed something repository related and want to have
the changes take effect.
pacman -Syy
Updating
Pacman can update your system with only one command:
pacman -Su
Although, it is usually better to sync your repo database first:
pacman -Syu
This command was recommend:
pacman -Syyu
Update & ignore a package
- The following changes take place in pacman's configuration file: /etc/pacman.conf
IgnorePkg=package_name
Update & ignore a package group
IgnoreGroup=package_group
IgnoreGroup=gnome
IgnoreGroup=kde
Installing Packages
- It is always best to have the repo databases synchronized &
then all packages installed on your system up to date before you install
any new packages.
pacman -Syyu
Install a package
pacman -S package_name
- If for example you are using the testing repo, & you have that
repo listed below your other repos in /etc/pacman.conf which should mean
that an older package will take priority over the younger one in the
testing repo, you should use pacman like this:
pacman -S testing/package_name
Install packages as a group
pacman -S gnome
pacman -S kde
Force the installation of a package. Attention: Only for advanced users.
pacman -S --force package_name
Download a package without installation
pacman -Sw package_name
Install a downloaded or a local package
pacman -U /package_path/package_name.pkg.tar.xz
- You can also use the URL:
pacman -U http://www.examplepackage/repo/examplepkg.tar.xz
Reinstall all packages
pacman -S $(pacman -Qqen)
To search which packages has been installed in a group
pacman -Sg gnome
pacman -Sg kde
Get a full package list with versions. This will create a file called
pacman.laptop in your home folder.
pacman -Q > ~/pacman.laptop
Removing Packages
Remove a package
pacman -R package_name
Remove a package with dependencies that are not being used by other packages
pacman -Rs package_name
Remove a package with all dependencies. Attention: The -c flag can remove needed dependencies, too. Only for advanced users.
pacman -Rsc package_name
- Remove a package and its configuration files too:
pacman -Rn package_name
Forcefully remove a dependency without removing any other package. Attention: Only for advanced users.
pacman -Rdd package_name
Cleaning Packages
See
Maintaining /var/cache/pacman/pkg for System Safety for an in depth view on this topic.
Cleaning the cache
- Leaves packages in your cache only for those packages which are currently installed on your system. Attention: This eliminates the possibility to Using Downgrade.
pacman -Sc
- Clean cache completely and remove all packages. Attention: This eliminates the possibility to Using Downgrade.
pacman -Scc
- A safer way to remove old package cache files is to remove all packages except for the latest three package versions:
paccache -rvk3
Cleaning orphan packages from the system. Also read
Orphan Package Removal for further information.
pacman -Rsn $(pacman -Qdtq)
If you get this error, don't worry: it means you don't have orphaned packages to remove!
error: no targets specified (use -h for help)
Searching for Packages
Provides a description of searched for package & associated packages
pacman -Ss package_name
Provides a description of previously installed package
pacman -Qs package_name
Provides detailed summary of a package
pacman -Si package_name
pacman -Qi package_name
- with 'ii' you can see the backup files and the date that the package has been changed.
pacman -Qii package_name
Get a list of installed packages
pacman -Q
Find out which package owns a file
pacman -Qo /file_path
List all orphan packages with no dependencies
pacman -Qdt
List all installed packages from the AUR
pacman -Qem
View package dependencies. Use one of the following commands:
pactree package_name
pactree -c package_name
pactree -s -c package_name
AUR (Arch User Repository)
Following is info on three popular options for using the AUR, for a
detailed list of their commands please look at their man pages:
Yaourt
Yaourt comes pre-installed with Manjaro so you normally won't have to
install it. If you have removed it, this is how you install it again:
pacman -S base-devel yaourt
- To use Yaourt to upgrade both official repos & AUR (only if new PKGBUILD files are available) use the following command:
yaourt -Syua
- To use Yaourt to download and rebuild the latest AUR packages from their source (regardless of PKGBUILD files):
yaourt -Syua --devel
You can use all Pacman commands mentioned on this Wiki page with Yaourt, too. One command is different:
- Removing orphaned packages is easier and more intuitive with Yaourt:
yaourt -Qdt
Packer
- Uses some of the same commands as pacman but differs in that it checks both the official repos & AUR.
yaourt -S packer
- Having installed 'packer' then you can run:
packer -S package_name
- This will upgrade from both official repos & AUR:
packer -Syu