Pacman custom installation reason

jcarrete · 2024-02-09 07:18:39

Anyone know if there is a way to manually specify a reason for installing a package? If not, I think this would be a neat idea.

The problem I have:
I will install a package, X, for some obscure reason e.g. building a software package manually. Time will pass and I will forget why I had package X installed. When I go to clean my system of unneeded packages, I'll look at package X and wonder if I should uninstall it.

In this scenario, it would be cool if at the time I installed that package, I could type out a reason for installing the package e.g. "KDE dev dependency". This reason would be custom and more detailed than just saying "explicitly installed" or "installed as a dependency". Of course I could just make a text file and keep track there but it would be cool if pacman would track it for me.

What do you think?

mpan · 2024-02-09 08:03:11

pacman has not such feature. The reason can be set only to “dependency” (--asdeps) or “explicit” (--asexplicit).

The closest you can get with the current version of pacman is creating a metapackage (e.g. named kde-dev-deps) with your packages as dependencies (`depends` array). You can then see a package among its dependencies. That’s inconvenient, though. Both for installing and removing packages.

jcarrete · 2024-02-28 20:20:33

The meta package idea is interesting. I think I'll stick with that for now.

Trilby · 2024-02-28 20:40:09

As an alternative, you can just periodically review what's installed. First, remove any orphans (covered in wiki), then get a list of explicitly installed packages that are not required by any other packages. Every item on this list should be something you explicitly want / use - you shouldn't need to know *why* it was installed: if you don't still use it, then why it was installed is irrelevant, remove it.

Last edited by Trilby (2024-02-28 20:40:52)

jcarrete · 2024-02-28 20:49:39

Yea, that's basically how I was currently handling the situation. But for things like developing KDE applications, I could easily see myself looking at a package and thinking it's okay to remove, but it's actually a build requirement for an application which might not be so easy to reinstall depending the time between when I removed the package and when it was needed again.

Trilby · 2024-02-28 20:56:36

Why would this be a concern? When you rebuild the package that requires it, makepkg will pull in any build time dependencies automatically.

jcarrete · 2024-02-28 21:03:30

I wouldn't be using makepkg to build the KDE application. I am using kdesrc-build. I suppose I don't have to use this tool though. I was following the guide on their wiki

SmallAndSimple · 2025-11-16 15:37:49

Trilby wrote:

As an alternative, you can just periodically review what's installed. First, remove any orphans (covered in wiki), then get a list of explicitly installed packages that are not required by any other packages. Every item on this list should be something you explicitly want / use - you shouldn't need to know *why* it was installed: if you don't still use it, then why it was installed is irrelevant, remove it.

This idea seems to work but falls sort of flat. For example, I have a custom OpenWeatherMap plugin for py3status. This is dependend on python-requests. Every now and again I go trough the list uninstall what I dont need and then break the plugin. Then I have to figure out again why.

I would still really like the custom install reason thingy.

seth · 2025-11-16 16:09:24

Why is python-requests not listed as dependency for "a custom OpenWeatherMap plugin"?

SmallAndSimple · 2025-11-16 21:21:56

Ah, you are proposing that I turn my script into an actual package? That is not a bad suggestion indeed, thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-02-09 07:18:39

Pacman custom installation reason

#2 2024-02-09 08:03:11

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#3 2024-02-28 20:20:33

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#4 2024-02-28 20:40:09

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#5 2024-02-28 20:49:39

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#6 2024-02-28 20:56:36

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#7 2024-02-28 21:03:30

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#8 2025-11-16 15:37:49

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#9 2025-11-16 16:09:24

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

#10 2025-11-16 21:21:56

Re: Pacman custom installation reason

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