Pacman

Pacman is a software package manager, developed as part of the Arch Linux distribution. It was created by Arch Linux creator Judd Vinet. The Pacman package manager is one of the major pillars of Arch Linux.

Usage

Pacman is capable of resolving dependencies and automatically downloading and installing all necessary packages. In theory, a user need only run a single command to completely update the system. In addition to Arch Linux, Pacman is also used by DeLi Linux and Frugalware.^[1]

Pacman combines a simple binary package format with an easy-to-use build system (see makepkg and ABS). This makes it possible to easily manage packages, whether they be from the official Arch repositories or the user's own builds.

Pacman keeps the system up to date by synchronizing package lists with the master server. This server/client model also allows users to download/install packages with a simple command, complete with all required dependencies.

Pacman uses compressed tar archives for all of the packages, each of which contains compiled binaries. Packages are downloaded via FTP; it can also use HTTP and local files, depending on how each repository is set up. It complements the Arch Linux Build System (ABS) used to create packages from source.

Graphical front-ends

There are many available pacman GUI frontends currently.

Qt/KDE interfaces

• Shaman: Shaman is a fully featured Qt 4 frontend to libalpm. It also extends pacman with a set of extra features, a graphical configurator, and support for source builds from ABS.
• pacmanager-svn: Qt 4 package manager based on pacman.
• kpacupdate: Pacman update notification tool for the KDE system tray.
• YAPG: Yet Another Pacman GUI is a complete and fully featured KDE frontend for pacman. Discontinued.

GTK+/GNOME interfaces

• gtkpacman: A PyGTK2 pacman GUI. An svn version is available as well (gtkpacman-svn).
• alunn: Tray notifications of new updates and news from Arch front page.
• guzuta: Yet another PyGTK frontend.
• pacmon-svn: Tray applet that notifies the user of available pacman updates.
• pacupdate: Tray notifications about new updates for Arch Linux.

See also

• Advanced Packaging Tool (APT)
• Conary (package manager)
• Portage
• Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM)

References

1. ^ The Frugalware Developer Team (2007-03-17). "Package management basics". Frugalware 0.6 (Terminus) Documentation. http://frugalware.org/docs/stable/pacman.html#toc0. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 

External links

Free software portal

• Pacman homepage
• Pacman in the Arch Linux wiki
• Pacman rosetta in the Arch Linux wiki
• Pacman GUI Frontends in the Arch Linux wiki
• DistroWatch Interview Judd Vinet talks about Arch Linux and Pacman in 2003