Pacman (package manager)

Infobox Software
name = Pacman


caption = Screenshot of Pacman running in a terminal
author = Judd Vinet
developer = Judd Vinet, Arch Linux Community
released = 2002-02-25
latest release version = 3.2.1
latest release date = 2008-08-26
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
programming language = C
operating system = GNU/Linux
platform = i686, x86 64
language = English
status = Active
genre = Package management system
license = GNU General Public License
website = [http://www.archlinux.org/pacman/ www.archlinux.org/pacman]

Pacman is a software package manager, developed as part of the Arch Linux Linux distribution. It was created by Arch Linux creator Judd Vinet. Pacman is capable of resolving dependencies and automatically downloading and installing all necessary packages. In theory, a user need only run a single command to completely update the system. In addition to Arch Linux, Pacman is also used by Frugalware. [cite web|url = http://frugalware.org/docs/stable/pacman.html#toc0|title = Package management basics|accessdate = 2007-09-23|author = The Frugalware Developer Team|date=2007-03-17|work = Frugalware 0.6 (Terminus) Documentation]

Pacman uses compressed tar archives for all of the packages, each of which contains compiled binaries. Packages are downloaded via FTP; it can also use HTTP and local files, depending on how each repository is setup. It complements the Arch Linux Build System (ABS) used to create packages from source.

References

See also

* Advanced Packaging Tool (APT)

External links

* [http://www.archlinux.org/pacman/ Pacman homepage]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman Pacman] in the Arch Linux wiki
* [http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=interview-arch DistroWatch Interview: Judd Vinet talks about Arch Linux and Pacman in 2003]