21. Getting to know PACMAN

Packman is Arch’s Package Management System, which is powerful and simple to use.
It is fast and usable such as Debian’s apt-get and Gentoo’s portage.
You can run it by typing:

pacman

It takes some options as well.

A typical packman call is the following for example.

pacman -S gimageview comix

It’s structure is:

pacman -<action><options> <package-1> < package-2> < package-3> ... < package-n>

(in our example there where no options, only an action.
Now, let’s see some of the basic options.

-y
refresh
It is used only with the action S (see below) usually with no packets after that. It refreshes our package database.

pacman -Sy

It is similar to Debian’s and Gentoo’s:

apt-get update

emerge --sync

If it is used with packet’s names after refreshing the database it will then install those packages as well. It is as using S after finishing with –y

-w
downloadonly
It is only with the action S (see below) with or without package names after that. By using it you just download the wanted packages. It can be used along with the u action (see below).

pacman -Sw

It is similar to Debian’s and Gentoo’s:

-d

-f

-u
sysupgrade
It is only with the action S (see below) without package names after that. It upgrades our whole system. It can be used along with w and usually with y

pacman -Su

It is similar to Debian’s and Gentoo’s:

apt-get upgrade

emerge -uDNpv --columns world

Ας δούμε τώρα τις βασικότερες από τις δράσεις:

-S
SYNC
It refreshs and/or adds packages of a part or of our whole system. If there are package name after that it can be used with the option w. If there aren’t any package names it should be used with options y or u.
 
Uses:
----> database refresh:

pacman -Sy

----> system upgrade:

pacman -Su

----> upgrade and package installation:

pacman -S gimageview comix

In the above example the packages gimageview and comix will be updated or/and installed.

It is similar to Debian’s and Gentoo’s:

apt-get install gimageview comix

emerge -uNpv --columns gimageview comix

-R
REMOVE
It deletes all packages that follow it.

pacman -R gimageview comix

In this example the packages gimageview and comix will be deleted.

It is similar to Debian’s and Gentoo’s:

apt-get remove gimageview comix

emerge -pvC --columns gimageview comix