What is Octopi?

Octopi is a GUI Software Management (or Package Management) program that can be used instead of, or in addition to, using pacman in the terminal. Octopi is the default choice for the KDE and Openbox flavours. (The default Graphical Software Manager for the XFCE flavour is Pamac)

Octopi is capable of handling updates, removal and installation of individual packages from the official repositories. It can search for files using its search field.

Octopi uses a panel applet notifier (the Octopi logo) which will turn red when there is a system update available.

Right-clicking on the panel applet at any time will give an option to open Octopi on your desktop.

The Octopi Help Menu - Usage - option output

The Following is output in the lower information output field of Octopi, when its Help Menu, option Usage F1 is chosen:

A Qt-based Pacman frontend, licensed under the terms of GPL v2.

For more information, visit: http://octopiproject.wordpress.com.

Package classification

An installed package
An installed package (not required by others)
A foreign package, installed from AUR
A non installed package
An outdated package
An outdated foreign package
A newer than repository package

Basic usage help

Position the mouse over a package to see its description
Double click an installed package to see its contents
Right click package to install/reinstall or remove it

Alt+key sequences

Alt+1 to switch to 'Info' tab
Alt+2 to switch to 'Files' tab
Alt+3 to switch to 'Transaction' tab
Alt+4 to switch to 'Output' tab
Alt+5 to switch to 'News' tab
Alt+6 or 'F1' to show this help page

Control+key sequences

Ctrl+D or 'File/Sync database' to sync the local database with latest remote changes (pacman -Sy)
Ctrl+U or 'File/System upgrade' to make a full system upgrade (pacman -Su)
Ctrl+L to find a package in the package list
Ctrl+F to search for text inside tab Files, News and Usage
Ctrl+M or 'Transaction/Commit' to start installation/removal of selected packages
Ctrl+E or 'Transaction/Cancel' to clear the selection of to be removed/installed packages
Ctrl+G or 'File/Get latest distro news' to retrieve the latest RSS based distro news
Ctrl+Q or 'File/Exit' to exit the application
Control+shift+key sequences:
Ctrl+Shift+C to clean local packages cache (pacman -Sc)
Ctrl+Shift+G to display all package groups
Ctrl+Shift+R to remove Pacman's transaction lock file
Ctrl+Shift+Y to display AUR group

F+key sequences

F1 to show this help page
F4 to open a Terminal within the selected directory at Files tab
F6 to open a File Manager within the selected directory at Files tab
F10 to maximize/demaximize package list view
F12 to maximize/demaximize Tab's view

Summary

As can be seen from the above, Octopi has many easily used features for those that prefer not to use the command line tools pacman & yaourt. The Octopi menu & the right mouse button menu are both simple, straight forward & easily understood, which makes the use of Octopi for those new to it very easy to learn.

Package Management Information Resources

The Octopi web site for the latest improvements in Octopi.

An introduction to the Manjaro way of using the Arch rolling release system.

There is a growing number of Manjaro wiki pages in the Software Management section that are well worth reading for those new to the rolling release way.

Support

For more on Octopi:

The Classic Manjaro forum thread.
New forum posts tagged with Octopi.