Pacman Overview

Overview

Pacman is a package manager developed specifically for use in Arch Linux. It is used to install, upgrade, configure and remove software (i.e. to manage software packages). Pacman is used through typing commands terminal; all the commands listed below to undertake various tasks assume that you have your terminal open.

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Updating the System

Tip

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This should be the first thing you do after installing Manjaro!

To update your system, enter the following command in the terminal:

sudo pacman -Syu

Searching for Software

It is also possible to use pacman to search Manjaro's software repositories for any desired software, provided you know the name of what you want. This is undertaken by entering the following command:

sudo pacman -Ss [software package name]

For example, to search the repositories to see if a text editor called Leafpad is available, the following command would be entered:

sudo pacman -Ss leafpad

Installing Applications and Software Packages

To install a software package using pacman, the basic syntax is:

sudo pacman -S [software package name]

For example, to download and install leafpad, the following command would be entered:

sudo pacman -S leafpad

Tip

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many software packages (especially complex applications) will require other software packages - known as dependencies - to also be downloaded and installed in order to work. Fortunately, pacman will automatically detect and install these for you.

Removing Applications and Software Packages

The basic command to remove a software package (e.g. application) is to enter:

sudo pacman -R [software package name]

For example, to remove the software application Leafpad, the following command would be entered:

sudo pacman -R leafpad

However, it is also possible to remove both the package and any other related packages (called dependencies) with the following command:

sudo pacman -R --nosave --recursive [software package name]

This will remove the dependencies provided they:

• are not required by any other package.
• were not explicitly installed (i.e. they were not installed separately, but were downloaded automatically as dependencies by pacman when the software package to be removed was installed itself).

This command will also remove the appropriate configuration files used by the deleted package. Using this command will therefore result in a clean system, free of useless dependencies that aren't used by any other software packages (known as orphans).

Learning pacman's options

It is a very good idea to become familiar with the varied and powerful uses of pacman. A comprehensive list of options that can be used with pacman can be found by entering the following command:

man pacman

To exit out of the list, simply press q.

Troubleshooting

A separate page for pacman troubleshooting is available here.