pacman
Package manager for Arch Linux, installing and updating packages from official repositories.
HN commenters like pacman for installing from vetted official Arch repositories12 and for simple one-command installs that they rate above Homebrew.345 It suits Arch Linux users, though it never installs from the AUR directly6, so commenters use separate tooling such as aurutils for that.7
Why people recommend it
Simple installs · 3
Installing software, even obscure libraries, is a single confirmed command.
“`sudo pacman -S 7zip` and it installs it for me after I hit enter to confirm”
“If I install it from pacman or manage to get an AUR build working, my life is pretty good.”
Show 1 more
“can use `pacman` to install and manage them”
Vetted repositories · 2
It installs from reviewed official repositories by default, so users trust it without checking packages themselves.
“pacman installs from regular, real, vetted repositories by default.”
“I obviously don't review stuff when I use pacman and official Arch package repositories”
Beats Homebrew · 1
A former Arch user found Homebrew no match for pacman.
“Brew is nice and all, but it's nothing compared to pacman/apt.”
Caveats and dissent
No AUR support · 2
pacman won't install AUR packages, so users add tools like aurutils to build and serve them locally.
“pacman installs from regular, real, vetted repositories by default.”
“can use `pacman` to install and manage them”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Pushes to arch AUR are suspendended right now. 1 mention
- Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive? 1 mention
- AURpocalypse now: a look at the recent AUR attacks 1 mention
- Arch Linux Now Believes Malware Incident Under Control: More Than 1,500 Packages 1 mention
- The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey 1 mention
- The C-Shaped Hole in Package Management 1 mention
Data: pacman.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 6
“I obviously don't review stuff when I use pacman and official Arch package repositories”
“Brew is nice and all, but it's nothing compared to pacman/apt.”
“pacman installs from regular, real, vetted repositories by default.”
“can use `pacman` to install and manage them”
“`sudo pacman -S 7zip` and it installs it for me after I hit enter to confirm”
“If I install it from pacman or manage to get an AUR build working, my life is pretty good.”