Frequently Asked Questions

• Do I have to be root?

  You don't have to be root to use Pacman. If you try to install some software which requires root and you're not root, Pacman will let you know what the problem is. Authors of Pacman caches can provide alternative installation procedures depending on whether you're root or not, if you choose to do that.

• An installation failed. What should I do?

  If an installation fails without telling you that something specific is missing (such as a you've got the wrong operating system, you need to be root to install, a file is missing, gcc is missing in the $path, etc.), you should contact the people responsible for the cache rather than fixing it yourself. That way, the problem can get fixed once for everyone who's using the cache.

• There is a package that I want to install, but it isn't in the ``Cache.'' What do I do?

  We will keep a list of trusted caches on the Pacman home page. If you can't find what you want, you can make your own cache in your local file system or on the web. Follow this tutorial to get started. It's easy.

• Does Pacman handle packages which depend on other packages?

  Yes, recursive dependencies are automatically resolved.

• Can I make multiple installations?

  Yes. If you execute a pacman command in a fresh directory, it will start a new local installation. You can do this any number of times.

• Why don't you use version numbers?

  Version numbers are trickier than you might think (as RedHat found out with rpm). Since, on the other hand, Pacman has dependent packages, there is a simple alternative. If you create package X with versions 1.0, 1.1a, 1.2b-OpenGL, etc., the thing to do is to make a separate .pacman file for each version as in X-1.0.pacman, X-1.1a.pacman, X-1.2b-OpenGL.pacman, etc. Then, you can have a single generic package in X.pacman which contains nothing but a dependence on the latest release. That way, users can either install the latest generic version of a particular release. Users of X.pacman automatically see when a new release is available whenever you change X.pacman's depends variable.

• Does pacman create files outside of it's installation area?

  Pacman can create files outside of it's installation area only if 1) it is copying a binary or shell script to /usr/local/bin or 2) if it is executing a package's build commands. If you want to be cautious about this, use pacman -ask -install and pacman will ask permission before executing each build command.

• Can pacman install and uninstall rpms?

  Yes.

• What happens if Pacman needs to replace an rpm?

  Pacman will ask for your permission before replacing any rpm unless you use the -force-rpm command line switch to always force a replacement.

• Can pacman recognize natively installed software?

  As of version 2.0, yes. See the release notes.

• Why not do everything with rpms?

  Although rpm is multi-platform these days, most software is still configured as tarballs. Although Pacman is much simpler than rpm, it handles dependent packages correctly and provides setup scripts to use the installed software.

• Do I have to start from scratch if there is an error?

  No. If a package fails to install or if you do control-C, intermediate results are saved and you don't have to start from scratch.