How to determine which packages need upgrading in Arch Linux?How to build docbook 4.2 docs on Arch Linux?Is Arch Linux suitable for server environment?How do I use pg_upgrade on arch linuxSimple Mail Server on Arch LinuxInstalling 32 bit libraries on arch linuxdebugging cherokee on arch linuxAttempting to use mod_pagespeed on Arch LinuxMight a pacman -Syu have changed polkitd's password?linux arch: systemd-networkd - interfaces not starting after rebootArch Linux journalctl: how to increase logging size?

How to determine which packages need upgrading in Arch Linux?How to build docbook 4.2 docs on Arch Linux?Is Arch Linux suitable for server environment?How do I use pg_upgrade on arch linuxSimple Mail Server on Arch LinuxInstalling 32 bit libraries on arch linuxdebugging cherokee on arch linuxAttempting to use mod_pagespeed on Arch LinuxMight a pacman -Syu have changed polkitd's password?linux arch: systemd-networkd - interfaces not starting after rebootArch Linux journalctl: how to increase logging size?

What is the legal status of travelling with (unprescribed) methadone in your carry-on?

Through the Looking-Glass

Would a two-seat light aircaft with a landing speed of 20 knots and a top speed of 180 knots be technically possible?

Is this one of the engines from the 9/11 aircraft?

Do flight schools typically have dress codes or expectations?

What reason would an alien civilization have for building a Dyson Sphere (or Swarm) if cheap Nuclear fusion is available?

Are there any vegetarian astronauts?

How to get cool night-vision without lame drawbacks?

Impossible darts scores

Should I hide continue button until tasks are completed?

How can I convince my reader that I will not use a certain trope?

How to reply to small talk/random facts in a non-offensive way?

Why is Madam Hooch not a professor?

Is it damaging to turn off a small fridge for two days every week?

Short and long term plans in a closed game in the Sicilian Defense

How can I deal with a coworker killed on the job

How to perform Login Authentication at the client-side?

When is it ok to add filler to a story?

Alphabet completion rate

Peace Arch without exiting USA

90s (or earlier) cross-world fantasy book with a circular river and character-class tattoos

No IMPLICIT_CONVERSION warning in this query plan

5 cars in a roundabout traffic

How often can a PC check with passive perception during a combat turn?

How to determine which packages need upgrading in Arch Linux?

How to build docbook 4.2 docs on Arch Linux?Is Arch Linux suitable for server environment?How do I use pg_upgrade on arch linuxSimple Mail Server on Arch LinuxInstalling 32 bit libraries on arch linuxdebugging cherokee on arch linuxAttempting to use mod_pagespeed on Arch LinuxMight a pacman -Syu have changed polkitd's password?linux arch: systemd-networkd - interfaces not starting after rebootArch Linux journalctl: how to increase logging size?

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

8

I know that pacman -Su upgrades all packages. But how can I get just the list of packages that need upgrading?

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

add a comment |

8

I know that pacman -Su upgrades all packages. But how can I get just the list of packages that need upgrading?

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

add a comment |

8

8

8

4

I know that pacman -Su upgrades all packages. But how can I get just the list of packages that need upgrading?

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

I know that pacman -Su upgrades all packages. But how can I get just the list of packages that need upgrading?

arch-linux

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

edited Aug 11 '11 at 18:38

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

asked Aug 11 '11 at 18:17

Eugene Yarmash

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

1,2183 gold badges27 silver badges51 bronze badges

add a comment |

add a comment |

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

11

Looking at the man page something like

pacman -Syu

to sync the database up to the latest version followed by

pacman -Qu

to

-u, --upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are out of date on the
local system. (Only package versions are used to find outdated
packages, replacements are not checked here.) This option works best
if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

add a comment |

6

checkupdates

The bash script checkupdates, included with the pacman package, provides a safe way to check for upgrades to installed packages without running a system update at the same time.

System Maintenance

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

add a comment |

0

As @Panagiotis mentioned, checkupdates provides a way to do this without requiring root or messing up your /var/lib/pacman database. Here's a minimal version:

TMPPATH="$TMPDIR:-/tmp/checkup-db-$USER"
DBPATH="$(pacman-conf DBPath)"

mkdir -p "$TMPPATH"
ln -s "$DBPATH/local" "$TMPPATH" &>/dev/null
fakeroot -- pacman -Sy --dbpath "$TMPPATH" --logfile /dev/null &>/dev/null
pacman -Qu --dbpath "$TMPPATH" 2>/dev/null

It works by:

Creating a temporary folder for your database.

Symlinking your /var/lib/pacman/local.

Running pacman -Sy on your temporary folder.

Querying via pacman -Qu on your temporary folder.

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

add a comment |

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "2"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);

);

draft saved

draft discarded

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fserverfault.com%2fquestions%2f300214%2fhow-to-determine-which-packages-need-upgrading-in-arch-linux%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

11

Looking at the man page something like

pacman -Syu

to sync the database up to the latest version followed by

pacman -Qu

to

-u, --upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are out of date on the
local system. (Only package versions are used to find outdated
packages, replacements are not checked here.) This option works best
if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

add a comment |

11

Looking at the man page something like

pacman -Syu

to sync the database up to the latest version followed by

pacman -Qu

to

-u, --upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are out of date on the
local system. (Only package versions are used to find outdated
packages, replacements are not checked here.) This option works best
if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

add a comment |

11

11

11

Looking at the man page something like

pacman -Syu

to sync the database up to the latest version followed by

pacman -Qu

to

-u, --upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are out of date on the
local system. (Only package versions are used to find outdated
packages, replacements are not checked here.) This option works best
if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

Looking at the man page something like

pacman -Syu

to sync the database up to the latest version followed by

pacman -Qu

to

-u, --upgrades
Restrict or filter output to packages that are out of date on the
local system. (Only package versions are used to find outdated
packages, replacements are not checked here.) This option works best
if the sync database is refreshed using -Sy.

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

edited May 3 '16 at 17:07

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

community wiki

2 revs
Iain

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

add a comment |

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

1

1

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

DANGER: The documentation says "never run pacman -Sy" (source: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/…)

– blippy
May 3 '16 at 14:34

1

1

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

@blippy That document didn't exist when this answer was written, it's earliest revision is some monhs later. Furthermore, the statement to which you refer was not added to the document until (Oct 23 2015)[wiki.archlinux.org/…) over 4 years later. Rather than being so melodramatic you should have just edited the answer and referenced the document as the reason for your change request Also note that even now the man page makes no such warnings.

– Iain
May 3 '16 at 17:05

2

2

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

just want to clarify too - the reason for not running pacman -Sy is to avoid installing packages from different package database updates. e.g. pacman -S <something> may give you a different package and dependencies than pacman -Sy && pacman -S <something>. From their documentation however, it seems pacman -Sy && pacman -Qu is the correct answer to OP's question. Just make sure you eventually run pacman -Su prior to installing any packages.

– aaaaaa
Mar 6 '18 at 19:22

1

1

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

I just want to clarify that the article is not saying pacman -Sy in-and-of-itself is bad. It doesn't even say it's "bad" or "dangerous". It is merely stating that a partial upgrade is not supported and that you should avoid it. In other words, running pacman -Sy and then running pacman -S <some package with dependencies> has the potential to break something else that has the same dependencies. Running something like pacman -Sy && pacman -S man-pages to only get the latest man-pages would be perfectly fine (man-pages has no dependencies, and is not required by any other packages).

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:33

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

It's 5 days later when you've forgotten you ran pacman -Sy and run pacman -S nvidia that you're likely to break something.

– Drew Chapin
Sep 9 '18 at 22:35

add a comment |

6

checkupdates

The bash script checkupdates, included with the pacman package, provides a safe way to check for upgrades to installed packages without running a system update at the same time.

System Maintenance

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

add a comment |

6

checkupdates

The bash script checkupdates, included with the pacman package, provides a safe way to check for upgrades to installed packages without running a system update at the same time.

System Maintenance

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

add a comment |

6

6

6

checkupdates

The bash script checkupdates, included with the pacman package, provides a safe way to check for upgrades to installed packages without running a system update at the same time.

System Maintenance

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

checkupdates

The bash script checkupdates, included with the pacman package, provides a safe way to check for upgrades to installed packages without running a system update at the same time.

System Maintenance

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

answered Aug 22 '17 at 7:37

Panagiotis Dimopoulos

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

611 silver badge2 bronze badges

add a comment |

add a comment |

0

As @Panagiotis mentioned, checkupdates provides a way to do this without requiring root or messing up your /var/lib/pacman database. Here's a minimal version:

TMPPATH="$TMPDIR:-/tmp/checkup-db-$USER"
DBPATH="$(pacman-conf DBPath)"

mkdir -p "$TMPPATH"
ln -s "$DBPATH/local" "$TMPPATH" &>/dev/null
fakeroot -- pacman -Sy --dbpath "$TMPPATH" --logfile /dev/null &>/dev/null
pacman -Qu --dbpath "$TMPPATH" 2>/dev/null

It works by:

Creating a temporary folder for your database.

Symlinking your /var/lib/pacman/local.

Running pacman -Sy on your temporary folder.

Querying via pacman -Qu on your temporary folder.

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

add a comment |

0

As @Panagiotis mentioned, checkupdates provides a way to do this without requiring root or messing up your /var/lib/pacman database. Here's a minimal version:

TMPPATH="$TMPDIR:-/tmp/checkup-db-$USER"
DBPATH="$(pacman-conf DBPath)"

mkdir -p "$TMPPATH"
ln -s "$DBPATH/local" "$TMPPATH" &>/dev/null
fakeroot -- pacman -Sy --dbpath "$TMPPATH" --logfile /dev/null &>/dev/null
pacman -Qu --dbpath "$TMPPATH" 2>/dev/null

It works by:

Creating a temporary folder for your database.

Symlinking your /var/lib/pacman/local.

Running pacman -Sy on your temporary folder.

Querying via pacman -Qu on your temporary folder.

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

add a comment |

0

0

0

As @Panagiotis mentioned, checkupdates provides a way to do this without requiring root or messing up your /var/lib/pacman database. Here's a minimal version:

TMPPATH="$TMPDIR:-/tmp/checkup-db-$USER"
DBPATH="$(pacman-conf DBPath)"

mkdir -p "$TMPPATH"
ln -s "$DBPATH/local" "$TMPPATH" &>/dev/null
fakeroot -- pacman -Sy --dbpath "$TMPPATH" --logfile /dev/null &>/dev/null
pacman -Qu --dbpath "$TMPPATH" 2>/dev/null

It works by:

Creating a temporary folder for your database.

Symlinking your /var/lib/pacman/local.

Running pacman -Sy on your temporary folder.

Querying via pacman -Qu on your temporary folder.

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

As @Panagiotis mentioned, checkupdates provides a way to do this without requiring root or messing up your /var/lib/pacman database. Here's a minimal version:

TMPPATH="$TMPDIR:-/tmp/checkup-db-$USER"
DBPATH="$(pacman-conf DBPath)"

mkdir -p "$TMPPATH"
ln -s "$DBPATH/local" "$TMPPATH" &>/dev/null
fakeroot -- pacman -Sy --dbpath "$TMPPATH" --logfile /dev/null &>/dev/null
pacman -Qu --dbpath "$TMPPATH" 2>/dev/null

It works by:

Creating a temporary folder for your database.

Symlinking your /var/lib/pacman/local.

Running pacman -Sy on your temporary folder.

Querying via pacman -Qu on your temporary folder.

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

edited Jun 8 at 1:18

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

answered Jun 7 at 21:52

Mateen Ulhaq

1035 bronze badges

1035 bronze badges

add a comment |

add a comment |

draft saved

draft discarded

Thanks for contributing an answer to Server Fault!

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

draft saved

draft discarded

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fserverfault.com%2fquestions%2f300214%2fhow-to-determine-which-packages-need-upgrading-in-arch-linux%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

Name

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

Name

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

Email

Required, but never shown

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here