Pacstall¶

ID: pacstall
Links: Home page · Documentation · Repository
Upstream stars: ⭐ 1,682
Last commit: 2026-09-20
Version requirement: >= 6
Platforms: 🐧 Linux
Operations: installed · outdated · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync
purl types: pkg:pacstall/
CLI name: pacstall
Forced environment: DISABLE_PROMPTS=1
NO_COLOR=1
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: dpkg-based
Source: pacstall.py

AUR-inspired, source-based package manager for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

Pacstall builds packages from “pacscripts” and installs the results as .deb archives through dpkg. mpm forces NO_COLOR and DISABLE_PROMPTS so output is uncolored and every call stays non-interactive.

pacstall self-escalates: every privileged subcommand re-execs the script through sudo pacstall (its elevate() function), and its documented invocation is unprefixed (pacstall -I foo). mpm therefore never wraps it and marks it internal_sudo instead: a warm sudo credential cache is kept alive for its mid-run re-exec, and the hidden-prompt watchdog covers the cold-cache case.

What `mpm` adds to `pacstall`¶

Through mpm, pacstall gains --exact and --extended search, to narrow to exact names or match descriptions.

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover pacstall alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill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 `pacstall` commands, in `mpm`¶

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

To…	With `pacstall`	With `mpm`
List what’s installed	`pacstall --list`	`mpm --pacstall installed`
List outdated packages	`pacstall --list-upgrades`	`mpm --pacstall outdated`
Search for a package	`pacstall --search neovim`	`mpm --pacstall search neovim`
Install a package	`pacstall --install neofetch`	`mpm install pkg:pacstall/neofetch`
Upgrade one package	`pacstall --install neofetch`	`mpm --pacstall upgrade neofetch`
Upgrade everything	`pacstall --upgrade`	`mpm --pacstall upgrade --all`
Remove a package	`pacstall --remove neofetch`	`mpm remove pkg:pacstall/neofetch`

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`	✅	Each listed package costs a follow-up `--cache-info` call to recover its version.
`outdated`	✅
`orphans`
`search`	✅	Matches names only and reports no versions. Exact and extended search backfilled by `mpm`.
`install`	✅
`upgrade`	✅	There is no per-package upgrade verb, so upgrading one package reinstalls it through `--install`.
`upgrade_all`	✅
`remove`	✅
`sync`	✅
`cleanup`
`doctor`

Configuration¶

Ignore pacstall on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-pacstall option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
pacstall = false
```
Raise the timeout of all pacstall calls:
```
[mpm.overrides.pacstall]
timeout = 900
```

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

[mpm.overrides.pacstall]
cli_names = [
    "pacstall",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = []
pre_args = []
pre_cmds = []
requirement = ">=6.0.0"
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "--version",
]
version_regexes = [
    "(?P<version>\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+)",
]

[mpm.overrides.pacstall.extra_env]
NO_COLOR = "1"
DISABLE_PROMPTS = "1"

The arguments and environment variables listed in the box atop this page are forced on every pacstall 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 pacstall, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --pacstall dump pacstall.toml, then mpm restore pacstall.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --pacstall sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation¶

Pacstall runs sudo from inside its own commands: mpm never wraps it, keeps an already-warm credential cache alive for those internal escalations, and warns when a mutating call goes silent on a terminal with a cold cache, since a password prompt may be hiding in the stream.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Concurrency¶

mpm never runs pacstall at the same time as apt, apt-mint, aptitude, deb-get or nala: they all install through dpkg and serialize on its /var/lib/dpkg/lock. Each mutating operation waits for the previous one, even with a higher --jobs, while managers outside this group keep running in parallel.

Only mutations are held back. The read-only queries (installed, outdated, search) take no backend lock and stay fully concurrent.

Cooldown¶

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

Status: ❌ None

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: Source-based recipe trees
Retraction: Index revert of the recipe tree
Publish date: ❌ a recipe carries no 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.

Reference traces¶

A collection of raw native outputs captured from the manager’s own CLI and recorded in the manager source. If you know Pacstall well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ pacstall --list
neofetch
neovim

$ pacstall --list-upgrades
Upgradable: 2
    neofetch @ pacstall-programs#master ( 7.1.0-2 -> 7.2.0-1 )
    neovim @ pacstall-programs#master ( 0.9.4-1 -> 0.10.0-1 )

Version check¶

The version is probed by running:

$ pacstall --version
6.3.7 Vanilla

and extracted with:

r"(?P<version>\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"

Upstream project¶

Metrics	`pacstall/pacstall`
Activity
Popularity
Metadata

Changelog¶

8.0.0 (2026-09-20)
- Serialize pacstall against the apt family rather than against pacman, since it installs through dpkg.
7.4.0 (2026-07-25)
- Marked as internal escalators (internal_sudo): pacstall re-execs itself through sudo pacstall and topgrade runs each privileged step through its own sudo, so mpm never wraps them, keeps a warm credential cache alive for their mid-run escalations, and watches for hidden password prompts.
6.3.0 (2026-04-09)
- Add Pacstall package manager with installed, outdated, search, install, upgrade, remove, and sync support. Closes #1610.