MSYS2-package-installation-commands.md

Package installation/uninstallation in MSYS2

MSYS2 uses "Pacman" as its package manager.

References:

1. https://www.maketecheasier.com/mastering-pacman-for-arch-linux/

2. https://www.maketecheasier.com/clear-package-cache-arch-linux/

Update the System:

pacman -Syu

Force a full refresh of the package database and update the system:

pacman -Syuu

Search for Packages:

pacman -Ss {keyword}

pacman -Ss vim

pacman -Ss package_name

Search for installed packages:

pacman -Qs package_name

Installing Packages:

pacman -S package1 package2

Update the system and install packages simultaneously:

pacman -Syu package1 package2

Listing Installed Packages:

pacman -Ql

Download Packages without installing:

pacman -Sw package_name

Uninstall a Package

pacman -R package

Remove a package and its dependencies that aren’t used by other packages:

pacman -Rsu package

Check for orphan files:

pacman -Qdt

Remove unused packages/orphans and their configuration files:

pacman -Rsnu $(pacman -Qtdq)

Clean up the Package Cache:

Clear out cached packages that aren’t currently installed:

This option will delete all the cached packages in /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ except for the versions matching packages installed on your system.

pacman -Sc

Keep all the installers of packages that are installed on the system plus one previous version of each installer in the cache directory. It also deletes installers of any package not installed/found on the system, much like pacman -Sc with an extra option.

paccache -rk 1

paccache -rk 2 will keep two older versions of each installer.

Remove the tarballs of all packages not currently installed on your system.

paccache -ruk0

A crude assessment of the programs installed by the user.

To obtain a crude assessment of the programs installed by the user (not dependencies of other packages installed by MSYS2), try the following commands:

comm -23 <(pacman -Qqett | sort) <(pacman -Qqg base -g base-devel | sort | uniq)

Or

comm -23 <(pacman -Qqett | sort | uniq) <(pacman -Qqg base -g base-devel | sort | uniq)

Ref: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/409895/pacman-get-list-of-packages-installed-by-user

Or

pacman --query --explicit

Ref: https://linuxcommandlibrary.com/man/pacman

Also, you can redirect the output to a text file, for example:

cd c:
cd Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Documents/
pacman --query --explicit > progs_installed_by_me.txt

Nevertheless, you won't get an accurate program installation history from the package manager. It's always better to maintain a record of the utilities you need and the programs you usually install after re-installing MSYS2.