devkitPro pacman¶

ID: dkp-pacman
Links: Documentation · Repository
Upstream stars: ⭐ 200
Last commit: 2024-08-02
Version requirement: >= 6
Platforms: 🐧 Linux · 🍎 macOS
Operations: installed · outdated · orphans · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync · cleanup · doctor
purl types: pkg:alpm/ · pkg:dkp-pacman/
CLI name: dkp-pacman
Every call: dkp-pacman --noconfirm --color never <command>
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: pacman-based
Source: 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.

The AUR helpers below wrap pacman; this one is pacman itself, so it keeps the default_sudo inherited from 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Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover dkp-pacman alongside aura, pacaur, pacman, pamac, paru, pikaur, shelly, trizen, yay and any other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates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List outdated packages	`pacman --query --upgrades`	`mpm --dkp-pacman outdated`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`	✅	Only packages tracked in a sync database are reported; foreign packages (AUR builds, `-U` installs) stay invisible to the plain `pacman` binary.
`orphans`	✅
`search`	✅	Extended search backfilled by `mpm`.
`install`	✅	A package already installed as a dependency is marked explicit by `mpm`.
`upgrade`	✅
`upgrade_all`	✅
`remove`	✅	The `--orphans` flag also drops the package’s orphaned dependencies.
`sync`	✅
`cleanup`	✅	The `--orphans` sweep is backfilled by `mpm`.
`doctor`	✅

Configuration¶

Ignore dkp-pacman on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-dkp-pacman option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
dkp-pacman = false
```

Raise the timeout of all dkp-pacman calls:

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

Run mpm config-template dkp-pacman to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

[mpm.overrides.dkp-pacman]
cli_names = [
    "dkp-pacman",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = []
pre_args = [
    "--noconfirm",
    "--color",
    "never",
]
pre_cmds = []
requirement = ">=6.0.0"
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "--version",
]
version_regexes = [
    ".*Pacman\\s+v(?P<version>\\S+)",
]

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.

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.

Its privileged operations are cleanup, install, remove, sync, upgrade, upgrade_all.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

State of devkitPro pacman’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None (pacman fork over devkitPro’s own repositories)

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); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Version check¶

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

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

Upstream project¶

Metrics	`devkitPro/pacman`
Activity
Popularity
Metadata

Changelog¶

8.0.0 (2026-09-20)
- Mark a package already installed as a dependency as explicitly installed when mpm install or mpm restore names it, so mpm cleanup --orphans keeps it.
- Resolve pkg:alpm, pkg:conda, pkg:deb, pkg:melpa, pkg:pypi and pkg:rpm pURLs to these managers too, alongside the ones already handling each type.
- Add devkitPro’s pacman fork, covering the console homebrew toolchains, with the full operation set inherited from pacman.