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KaOS

Pacman Guide

Some very basic commands.

To update the system

Terminal window
sudo pacman -Syu

Update the database:

Terminal window
sudo pacman -Syy

Installing

To install a package (always run pacman -Syu, before installing):

Terminal window
sudo pacman -S package_name

To install a local package, or from a website:

Terminal window
sudo pacman -U /path/to/the/package

To re-install all packages (those from the repo’s), in case of emergency:

Terminal window
pacman -Qnq | pacman -S -

Removing Packages

If you want to only remove the package, the following command is sufficient:

Terminal window
sudo pacman -R

To remove the package and those of its dependencies that aren’t needed by any other application, do

Terminal window
sudo pacman -Rs

Finally, to remove the package, avoid orphaned dependencies and erase its global configuration, type

Terminal window
sudo pacman -Rns package_name

which in most cases is the proper command to remove software.

Searches/Queries

Info about an installed package:

Terminal window
pacman -Qi package_name

Queries the repo about a package:

Terminal window
pacman -Ss package_name

Queries the repo about a packages, and all that depend on it:

Terminal window
pacman -Sii package_name

Howto

List Installed Packages that are not in the Official Repositories:

If you want a list of the packages you built and installed locally or packages that are no longer in the official repositories:

Terminal window
pacman -Qm

Make sure to check this regularly, preferably monthly but at least every three months. KaOS repositories are always moving so you don’t want to keep unmaintained and possibly conflicting packages in your install.

Pacman is completely broken! How do I reinstall it?

In the case that pacman is broken beyond repair, manually download the necessary packages (openssl, libarchive, and pacman) and extract them. The pacman binary will be restored along with its default configuration file. Afterwards, reinstall these packages with pacman to maintain package database integrity. You can use this command to extract them.

Terminal window
sudo tar -xwvpf <i>package_name-version.tar.xz</i> -C / --exclude .PKGINFO --exclude .INSTALL

More info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman