The package manager is a key part of any Linux-based operating system. It is used to install and manage software packages on your system. Pacman is the default package manager for Arch-based Linux distributions. It provides an easier way to install, remove and update software packages to your system. Pacman uses simple compressed files as a package format and maintains a text-based package database.
In this post, we will show you how to use Pacman to manage packages on Arch Linux.
Step 1 – Configure Repository
By default, the default repository is outdated in Arch Linux, so you will need to modify the default mirror list. You can do it by editing the mirrorlist configuration file:
nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Remove all lines and add the following lines:
## Score: 0.7, United States Server = http://mirror.us.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 0.8, United States Server = http://lug.mtu.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://mirror.nl.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 0.9, United Kingdom Server = http://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 1.5, United Kingdom Server = http://mirrors.manchester.m247.com/arch-linux/$repo/os/$arch Server = http://archlinux.dcc.fc.up.pt/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 6.6, United States Server = http://mirror.cs.pitt.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 6.7, United States Server = http://mirrors.acm.wpi.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 6.8, United States Server = http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 7.1, India Server = http://mirror.cse.iitk.ac.in/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ## Score: 10.1, United States Server = http://mirrors.xmission.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Save and close the file, then update all the package indexes with the following command:
pacman -Syu
Step 2 – Install a Package with Pacman
The basic syntax to install any package on Arch Linux is shown below:
pacman -S package-name
For example, to install the Nginx pack
age, run the following command:
pacman -S nginx
You can also install multiple packages using the single Pacman command. For example, to install multiple packages unzip. curl and wget, run the following command:
pacman -S unzip curl wget
Step 3 – Remove a Package with Pacman
The basic syntax to remove a package in Arch Linux is shown below:
pacman -R package-name
For example, to remove a package named unzip, run the following command:
pacman -R unzip
If you want to remove the dependencies along with the package, use the -s option with the Pacman command:
pacman -Rs package-name
If your specified package acts as a dependency of another package, you can use the -c option to remove both packages:
pacman -Rsc package-name
If you remove a package using the Pacman command, it will create a backup of all configuration files associated with that package. You can remove packages without backing up config files, use the -n option:
pacman -Rns package-name
Step 4 – Download a Package Using Pacman
You can use the -Sw option to download any package without installing it on your system.
pacman -Sw package-name
For example, to download the Nginx package, run the following command:
pacman -Sw nginx
You should get the following output:
resolving dependencies... Packages (4) geoip-1.6.12-2 geoip-database-20220823-1 mailcap-2.1.53-1 nginx-1.22.0-2 Total Download Size: 2.75 MiB :: Proceed with download? [Y/n] y :: Retrieving packages... geoip-database-20220823-1-any 2.1 MiB 5.17 MiB/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100% nginx-1.22.0-2-x86_64 585.8 KiB 7.15 MiB/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100% geoip-1.6.12-2-x86_64 86.9 KiB 1609 KiB/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100% mailcap-2.1.53-1-any 29.5 KiB 590 KiB/s 00:00 [#################################################] 100% Total (4/4) 2.8 MiB 3.29 MiB/s 00:01 [#################################################] 100% (4/4) checking keys in keyring [#################################################] 100% (4/4) checking package integrity [#################################################] 100%
Step 5 – Search for a Package Using Pacman
Pacman provides a search capability that allows you to search for packages in the local database.
The basic syntax to search for any available package is shown below:
pacman -Ss query
For example, to search for a package named Docker, run the following command:
pacman -Ss docker
You should get the following list:
community/bashbrew 0.1.1-2
Canonical build tool for Docker official images
community/container-diff 0.17.0-2
Diff your Docker containers
community/docker 1:20.10.18-1
community/docker-buildx 0.9.1-1
Pack, ship and run any application as a lightweight container
Docker CLI plugin for extended build capabilities with BuildKit
community/docker-compose 2.11.2-1
Fast, isolated development environments using Docker
community/docker-machine 0.16.2-5
Machine management for a container-centric world
community/docker-scan 0.20.0-1
Docker Scan is a Command Line Interface to run vulnerability detection on your Dockerfiles and Docker images
community/drone-runner-docker 1.8.2-1
Drone pipeline runner that executes builds inside Docker containers
community/kompose 1.26.0-2
Docker compose to Kubernetes transformation tool
community/molecule-docker 2.1.0-1
Molecule Docker Driver
To search for a package already installed on your system, use the -Qs option:
pacman -Qs wget
You should see the following output:
local/wget 1.21.3-1
Network utility to retrieve files from the Web
To list orphaned packages, run the following command:
pacman -Qdt
To find more information about any package, run the following command:
pacman -Si nginx
You will get the following output:
Repository : extra Name : nginx Version : 1.22.0-2 Description : Lightweight HTTP server and IMAP/POP3 proxy server Architecture : x86_64 URL : https://nginx.org Licenses : custom Groups : None Provides : None Depends On : pcre2 zlib openssl geoip mailcap libxcrypt Optional Deps : None Conflicts With : None Replaces : None Download Size : 585.77 KiB Installed Size : 1693.74 KiB Packager : Giancarlo Razzolini <[email protected]> Build Date : Fri 10 Jun 2022 01:45:12 PM UTC Validated By : MD5 Sum SHA-256 Sum Signature
Step 6 – Clean Package Cache
When you install a package using the Pacman command, it doesn’t remove the downloaded files. In this case, you can keep the cache files of currently installed packages and remove the rest using the following command:
pacman -Sc
You will get the following output:
Packages to keep: All locally installed packages Cache directory: /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ :: Do you want to remove all other packages from cache? [Y/n] Y
To remove unwanted dependencies, run the following command:
pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qdt)
Conclusion
In this post, we explained how to manage packages with Pacman package manager on Arch Linux. This will help you to manage packages easily on Arch Linux. You can choose one of our dedicated server hosting from Atlantic.Net! to use the Pacman.
