How do you make use of pacman to install software? Personally, I would rather update the cache before I install, to ensure that I am installing the most up-to-date software possible. However, if you don't want to that's fine too. Please explain your votes.

It's a very bad idea to use -Sy and will lead to breakage without extreme vigilance. You'll end up mixing up all kinds of old and new versions of software/libraries which can result in dependency issues for various apps. Always use the -S flag and stick to system-wide updates (-Syu) unless you know what you are doing.

EDIT: Please see this thread - https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=89328

Arch developer on pacman -Sy :

I had mostly used pacman -Sy to synchronise so whatever I was asking for what was in the repos. It was my understanding that I needed an up-to-date list or there would be an error if I attempted to install an outdated package which was no longer there.

I always update my Arch system when I start it, so I think there is no need to install software with -Sy, I always use -S.

I put my vote for pacman -S, since I don't refresh before installing something, but really I alias bauerbill

I usually use "pacman -Sy".
I build quite of few local packages and the cache requires the update in order to find it in my local repository.
I run "pacman -Syu" before installing any regular package(s) or building a package thus ensuring consistency.

I always install with -Sy. And full update with -Syyu.

I use `pacman -S`. Always using `pacman -Sy` reminds me of `yum`. The last time I used Fedora/CentOS yum seemed to always start by refreshing the package lists. Perhaps there are ways to prevent this from happening, I didn't stay in Fedora-land long enough to care to find out.

@ Novartum:

I fully concur, installing software should NEVER be automated. You MUST keep at least the depencencies in check.

Thor

I frequently do -Sy to see what updates are available. So when I do install a package, my sync is usually already updated. But I've never had a problem doing it this way. If I did, I guess a full update would cure it.

But due to the lack of package security in Arch, I recommend adding packages with paccheck:
which compares the database and packages on several mirrors to help avoid compromised mirrors.

@ IgnorantGuru,

Yo! Tnx for paccheck, which I still have to get up and running. I installed it using the "install" command, running

gives me "paccheck not found"

I added myself to the sudoers config (did not have sudo installed) but to no avail...any tips?

Tnx!

Thor

Edit
Got something out of it:

aarnet failed, it seemed. But all in all a safer thing. Now, what? Do I wait unitl something happens? Anything I can tweak from my end?

Hi, You don't need sudo to run paccheck - in fact it won't let you run it as root (unless you modify the script). So first just try "paccheck". If that doesn't work, perhaps /usr/local/bin is for some reason not in your path? You could also try installing it to /usr/bin - no harm in that...

(Script Installation Instructions here)

As for why sudo said paccheck not found, maybe /usr/local/bin isn't accessible by sudo on your system. But as I said you don't need sudo for paccheck. (If you really want to run it as root for some reason, after modifying the script so it won't say "do not run as root", you could use "sudo /usr/local/bin/paccheck".)

Also note that paccheck is in the AUR, though I recommend following the verify instructions prior to installing from the AUR.

Also, paccheck does use sudo within it to run pacman. If you want to use paccheck without sudo installed, use the --no-sync option, but you will need to run these commands first as root, prior to running paccheck each time:
HTH

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I would use a few (3 or 4) mirrors for best results. These can be configured in /etc/paccheck/mirrorlist, as discussed here. If you only used one mirror and the download failed, then paccheck couldn't accomplish anything.

If most of the mirrors respond and you're satisfied with the results, then you can proceed to update your system (pacman -Su). If you have any question on interpreting the results, just let me know.

Hi IgnorantGuru,

Let me take you up on your generous offer:

Ehhh, how do I make a mirrorlist for pacckeck? By the way, the thing purrs like a kitten. Real sweet, let me say this!
Okay, after following the install instructs, I still do not have a file /etc/paccheck/mirrorlist, I may need to make one...I guess.

Sorry for my (many) questions...I use Linux for a while now, but every day it challenges me...just like being married, I guess...

Thor

Good point - I'll put a note about that in the install instructions. Unless you install using the AUR, you'll need to manually create that folder and file (as root):
Then edit that file as root, and copy any mirrors you want to use from /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (paccheck accepts mirror entries in the same format as that file).

Also, just to be clear, if no mirrors are defined in /etc/paccheck/mirrorlist or its missing, paccheck uses its built-in config which includes a few mirrors. Mirror for full compare, if desired, can be specified on the command line with --compare or can be included in mirrorlist as compare=MIRROR.

Here is the default mirrorlist distributed with paccheck in the AUR:
No problem - others usually have similar questions so answering them in a forum is good for everyone.

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