devkitPro pacman¶

ID: dkp-pacman
Home page: https://github.com/devkitPro/pacman
Version requirement: >= 6
Platforms: 🐧 Linux · 🍎 macOS
Operations: installed · outdated · orphans · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync · cleanup · doctor
purl types: pkg:dkp-pacman
CLI name: dkp-pacman
Every call: dkp-pacman --noconfirm --color never <command>
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: pacman-based
Source: meta_package_manager/managers/pacman.py

devkitPro’s pacman fork, covering the console homebrew toolchains.

devkitPro ships its own pacman build under the dkp-pacman name so it can sit beside a distribution’s own pacman without colliding, pointed at the devkitPro repositories holding the devkitARM, devkitA64 and devkitPPC toolchains and the libraries built against them.

Every operation, parser and forced argument is inherited from Pacman unchanged: the fork tracks upstream closely enough that its version banner still comes from the same printf(" .--. Pacman v%s - libalpm v%s") call, so the inherited Pacman.version_regexes reads it as-is.

Unlike the AUR helpers below this one is not a helper at all but pacman itself, so it keeps the default_sudo inherited from Pacman.

Documentation: devkitPro pacman.

What `mpm` adds to `dkp-pacman`¶

Through mpm, dkp-pacman gains:

a one-command cleanup --orphans that removes every orphaned dependency at once
--extended search, to match against package descriptions

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover dkp-pacman alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your `dkp-pacman` commands, in `mpm`¶

You already know dkp-pacman: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With `dkp-pacman`	With `mpm`
List what’s installed	`pacman --query`	`mpm --dkp-pacman installed`
List outdated packages	`pacman --query --upgrades`	`mpm --dkp-pacman outdated`
Search for a package	`pacman --sync --search fire`	`mpm --dkp-pacman search fire`
Install a package	`sudo pacman --sync firefox`	`mpm install pkg:dkp-pacman/firefox`
Upgrade one package	`sudo pacman --sync firefox`	`mpm --dkp-pacman upgrade firefox`
Upgrade everything	`sudo pacman --sync --refresh --sysupgrade`	`mpm --dkp-pacman upgrade --all`
Remove a package	`sudo pacman --remove firefox`	`mpm remove pkg:dkp-pacman/firefox`
List orphaned dependencies	`pacman --query --deps --unrequired`	`mpm --dkp-pacman orphans`
Clear caches	`sudo pacman --sync --clean --clean`	`mpm --dkp-pacman cleanup --cache`
Run health checks	`pacman --database --check`	`mpm --dkp-pacman doctor`

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations¶

Operation	Supported	Notes
`installed`	✓
`outdated`	✓
`orphans`	✓
`search`	✓	extended search backfilled by `mpm`
`install`	✓
`upgrade`	✓
`upgrade_all`	✓
`remove`	✓	`--orphans` also drops the package’s orphaned dependencies
`sync`	✓
`cleanup`	✓	`--orphans` sweep backfilled by `mpm`
`doctor`	✓

Selecting and configuring `dkp-pacman`¶

Deselect dkp-pacman for a single run with --no-dkp-pacman, or persist the choice in your configuration:

[mpm]
dkp-pacman = false

The arguments and environment variables listed in the box atop this page are forced on every dkp-pacman call, so runs stay quiet, non-interactive and reproducible: the defaults you would set in CI anyway.

Keep it enabled but tune how mpm drives it with a per-manager override:

[mpm.managers.dkp-pacman]
timeout = 900

mpm config-template dkp-pacman prints every overridable attribute as a ready-to-paste block.

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around dkp-pacman, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --dkp-pacman dump dkp-pacman.toml, then mpm restore dkp-pacman.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --dkp-pacman sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).
Gate CI on health: mpm --dkp-pacman doctor relays devkitPro pacman’s own diagnosis and exits non-zero on trouble.

Privilege escalation¶

System-wide manager: mpm wraps its privileged operations in sudo out of the box. Instead of letting the tool prompt mid-run, mpm primes the credential cache up-front, with a single branded password prompt at most. Turn escalation off for rootless setups with --no-sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

Not yet assessed in the cooldown support table.

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

Registry: Distro binary archives (pkg:deb, pkg:rpm, pkg:alpm, pkg:apk)
Retraction: Index revert: removal is an archive operation and the mirror is rebuilt without the package. Debian, for one, requires filing an RM: bug against ftp.debian.org (developers-reference)
Publish date: ❌ the version string is the distro maintainer’s build, carrying no upstream publication date

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --allow-unsupported-managers opts back in.

Version probe¶

The version is extracted from the output of dkp-pacman --version with:

r".*Pacman\s+v(?P<version>\S+)"

Changelog¶

7.7.0.dev0 (unreleased)
- Add devkitPro’s pacman fork, covering the console homebrew toolchains, with the full operation set inherited from pacman.