[Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

kabads · 2013-05-12 14:44:27

Is it possible to run pacman -Syu (with different flags) and see which packages will update without having to go through it? I've looked at man pacman and didn't see anything obvious.

TIA.

Last edited by kabads (2013-05-13 03:22:25)

lucke · 2013-05-12 14:48:50

When you use -S or -R, pacman tells you what it would do and asks whether you want to proceed. You can use VerbosePkgLists and TotalDownload in pacman.conf for more info.

karol · 2013-05-12 14:57:35

Use 'checkupdates'.

x33a · 2013-05-12 17:20:50

@ karol, what is checkupdates?

karol · 2013-05-12 17:23:39

'checkupdates -h'.

x33a · 2013-05-12 17:40:36

Woah, when did it make into pacman? 4.1.1, I suppose.

I thought it was an option in pacman.conf, but since I had already merged the pacnew, I was not so sure.

Edit: Err.. I meant pacman 4.1.0

Last edited by x33a (2013-05-12 17:49:30)

karol · 2013-05-12 17:43:45

It was introduces in pacman 4.1.0: https://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git/tree/NEWS#n84 based on keenerd's checkupdates https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p1072495

$ pkgfile -v checkupdates
core/pacman 4.1.0-2	/usr/bin/checkupdates
$ less /usr/bin/checkupdates

David Batson · 2013-05-12 17:45:24

I just run "pacman -Syu" and choose no to accept the updates. Perhaps a little more risky than other methods (if you hit the wrong key).

x33a · 2013-05-12 17:51:15

Thanks for the info karol, just tried it and it looks good. A verbose switch to show the db download progress would be great, but that should be reported to keenerd

Last edited by x33a (2013-05-12 17:51:49)

jasonwryan · 2013-05-12 18:00:44

David Batson wrote:

I just run "pacman -Syu" and choose no to accept the updates. Perhaps a little more risky than other methods (if you hit the wrong key).

This is the same as running pacman -Sy $package and can cause issues. Use checkupdates, that is what it is there for...

ewaller · 2013-05-12 18:06:47

Hey Jason,
I don't think he meant to ignore the messages where you replace one package with another. I think he meant when it finally gives you the long list of what is going to be updated, decline everything and abort.
Eric

falconindy · 2013-05-12 18:09:19

ewaller wrote:

Hey Jason,
I don't think he meant to ignore the messages where you replace one package with another. I think he meant when it finally gives you the long list of what is going to be updated, decline everything and abort.
Eric

Which is the same as running 'pacman -Sy' + 'pacman -Qu' and is Considered Harmful™.

ewaller · 2013-05-12 18:15:35

Wow, I am missing something. I clearly have some research to do.

What I would expect is that first, the cache is updated. Then dependencies resolved, and then a list of files is presented that will be changed if you press 'y' or return. I would think that pressing 'N' would cause Pacman to terminate without updating anything except the cache.

karol · 2013-05-12 18:34:36

ewaller wrote:

Wow, I am missing something. I clearly have some research to do.
What I would expect is that first, the cache is updated. Then dependencies resolved, and then a list of files is presented that will be changed if you press 'y' or return. I would think that pressing 'N' would cause Pacman to terminate without updating anything except the cache.

Updating sync dbs and installing some packages 'pacman -Sy foo' may result in a broken system. 'pacman -Sy' or 'pacman -Syu' + answering 'n' to the question is not a problem but may lead to problems, so it's best to avoid it.

ewaller · 2013-05-12 18:42:33

karol wrote:

Updating sync dbs and installing some packages 'pacman -Sy foo' may result in a broken system.

That is an absolute truth and cannot be overemphasised

'pacman -Sy' or 'pacman -Syu' + answering 'n' to the question is not a problem but may lead to problems, so it's best to avoid it.

But this seems to contradict what Jason and Falconindy are saying.

karol · 2013-05-12 18:49:17

Just as '-f' was removed to discourage people from using 'pacman -Syuf', it's easier to say that 'pacman -Sy' is bad, even thought the problem is 'pacman -Sy foo' i.e. 'pacman -Sy' + 'pacman -S foo'.

David Batson · 2013-05-12 18:54:15

I was having difficulty understanding why using pacman -Syu and then aborting would be a problem. After searching a little, I found the following thread from a couple of years ago that explains it well.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=89328

AFAICT, the problem only surfaces if you run pacman -Syu, abort, then later try to install individual packages without updating your system first.

karol · 2013-05-12 18:57:29

David Batson wrote:

I was having difficulty understanding why using pacman -Syu and then aborting would be a problem. After searching a little, I found the following thread from a couple of years ago that explains it well.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=89328
AFAICT, the problem only surfaces if you run pacman -Syu, abort, then later try to install individual packages without updating your system first.

Not exactly, as I posted above, running 'pacman -Sy' is bad too.

ewaller · 2013-05-12 19:00:37

Okay that makes sense. Any time one updates the cache, but leaves older version of programs installed, the next time someone goes to install a new package there exists the possibility of generating a 'partial update' situation. But should that not be caught during the resolution of dependencies?

karol · 2013-05-12 19:16:35

If the applications you have installed don't have e.g. libpng as a versioned dependency, doing 'pacman -Sy foo' might pull the new version of the library, which will bread everything but 'foo'.

kabads · 2013-05-12 21:12:45

Thanks guys - checkupdates is exactly what I wanted.

Allan · 2013-05-12 22:37:13

ewaller wrote:

But should that not be caught during the resolution of dependencies?

It could, but Arch does not support doing that. We do not use exact versions in our dependencies.

ewaller · 2013-05-12 23:16:24

Allan wrote:

It could, but Arch does not support doing that. We do not use exact versions in our dependencies.

<paradigm shift> How long have I been here, and how is it that has not ever occurred to me before? <That was meant to be a rhetorical question>
Thanks Allan.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-05-12 14:44:27

[Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#2 2013-05-12 14:48:50

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#3 2013-05-12 14:57:35

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#4 2013-05-12 17:20:50

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#5 2013-05-12 17:23:39

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#6 2013-05-12 17:40:36

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#7 2013-05-12 17:43:45

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#8 2013-05-12 17:45:24

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#9 2013-05-12 17:51:15

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#10 2013-05-12 18:00:44

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#11 2013-05-12 18:06:47

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#12 2013-05-12 18:09:19

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#13 2013-05-12 18:15:35

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#14 2013-05-12 18:34:36

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#15 2013-05-12 18:42:33

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#16 2013-05-12 18:49:17

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#17 2013-05-12 18:54:15

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#18 2013-05-12 18:57:29

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#19 2013-05-12 19:00:37

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#20 2013-05-12 19:16:35

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#21 2013-05-12 21:12:45

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#22 2013-05-12 22:37:13

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

#23 2013-05-12 23:16:24

Re: [Solved] Checking which packages will update pacman -Syu --dry-run?

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