Editing Arch Linux (section)

===Pacman{{anchor|Pacman}}===
[[File:Example of pacman in Arch Linux screenshot.png|thumb|Example of pacman usage]]
All packages are managed through pacman, a [[package manager]] written specifically for Arch Linux.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.osnews.com/story/10047 |title=Arch Linux: Why It Rocks |author=Eugenia Loli |publisher=OSNews |date=21 March 2005 |access-date=30 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930134246/https://www.osnews.com/story/10047 |archive-date=30 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Pacman handles package installation, upgrades, downgrades, removal and features automatic dependency resolution.<ref name="Pacman-Arch-Wiki">{{cite web |url=https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman |title=pacman |website=ArchWiki |date=6 August 2017 |access-date=20 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818132159/https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman |archive-date=18 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The packages for Arch Linux are obtained from the Arch Linux package tree and are compiled for the x86-64 architecture.

Pacman typically uses binary packages with a <code>.tar.zst</code> extension<ref>
{{Cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Arch-Linux-Pacman-Zstd-Near|title=Arch Linux Nears Roll-Out Of Zstd Compressed Packages For Faster Pacman Installs - Phoronix|website=www.phoronix.com|access-date=2019-10-31|archive-date=18 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318032712/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Arch-Linux-Pacman-Zstd-Near|url-status=live}}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite web|url=https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2019-March/029520.html|title=[arch-dev-public] RFC: (devtools) Changing default compression method to zstd|last=Broda|first=Robin|date=March 24, 2019|access-date=2019-10-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021234422/https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2019-March/029520.html|archive-date=21 October 2019|url-status=live}}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite web|url=https://www.archlinux.org/news/required-update-to-recent-libarchive/|title=Arch Linux - News: Required update to recent libarchive|website=www.archlinux.org|access-date=2019-10-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021234424/https://www.archlinux.org/news/required-update-to-recent-libarchive/|archive-date=21 October 2019|url-status=live}}
</ref> (for [[Zstandard|zstd]] compression), with <code>.pkg</code> placed before this to indicate that it is a Pacman package (giving <code>.pkg.tar.zst</code>);<ref name="Pacman-Arch-Wiki"/>
though other compression formats are also valid, such as <code>.pkg.tar.xz</code>.<ref>[https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/makepkg.conf.5.html#_options "Pacman: Configuration options for makepkg"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120134132/https://archlinux.org/pacman/makepkg.conf.5.html#_options |date=20 January 2021 }}.
2021.</ref>

Packages can be installed via <code>pacman -S {{var|package name}}</code>, and  <code>pacman -Syu</code> can be used to perform a full system upgrade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archlinux.org/pacman/pacman.8.html|title=Man pages of Pacman|website=archlinux.org|access-date=2022-07-06|archive-date=22 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622221154/https://archlinux.org/pacman/pacman.8.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

As well as Arch Linux, Pacman is also used for installing packages under [[MSYS2]] (a fork of [[Cygwin]]) on Windows.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Package Management - MSYS2|url=https://www.msys2.org/docs/package-management/|access-date=2020-11-11|website=www.msys2.org|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101004322/https://www.msys2.org/docs/package-management/|url-status=live}}</ref>