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# Package management

Pacman (Arch)

Install, update and remove packages on Arch Linux's rolling release with pacman.

The basics

Pacman's flags are a bit terser than other managers: -S installs (Sync), -R removes, -Ss searches. Combine sync and refresh with -Syu for a full system update.

bash
sudo pacman -S nginx
sudo pacman -R nginx
sudo pacman -Syu

Searching for a package

-Ss searches the repos by name/description; -Qi shows info about an already-installed package.

bash
pacman -Ss redis
pacman -Qi redis

Removing with dependencies

-Rs removes a package and any dependencies no longer needed by anything else; -Rns also removes its configuration files.

bash
sudo pacman -Rs nginx
sudo pacman -Rns nginx

Rolling release means updating often

Arch has no fixed release versions — you're always on the latest packages. That makes -Syu something to run regularly rather than occasionally: long gaps between updates are the most common cause of partial-upgrade problems on Arch.