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Comments on Download packages for full system upgrade without installing

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Download packages for full system upgrade without installing

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I noticed that downloading all the pacman packages for a full system install takes a lot of time, so I want to create a systemd time that will periodically download them for me. That way, most of the time the cache will be fresh, and when I actually do update them, most will not need to be re-downloaded.

What pacman options can I use to only download all packages that need to be updated, but not install them?

arch-linux packages
posted 11 months ago
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matthewsnyder‭
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You can use -Suw for that. I haven't actually tested it, but it should work according to the documentation. From man pacman (redactied/edited for clarity):

UPGRADE OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S AND -U)

-w, --downloadonly

Retrieve all packages from the server, but do not install/upgrade anything.

[. . .]

SYNC OPTIONS (APPLY TO -S)

[. . .]

-u, --sysupgrade

Upgrades all packages that are out-of-date. Each currently-installed package will be examined and upgraded if a newer package exists. A report of all packages to upgrade will be presented, and the operation will not proceed without user confirmation. Dependencies are automatically resolved at this level and will be installed/upgraded if necessary.

That said, it might be simpler and more practical to instead upgrade on a regular basis so you never have enormous amounts of packages to download.

posted 11 months ago
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terdon‭
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2 comment threads

Plus, performing smaller updates on a regular basis is less likely to break the installation, as oppo... (2 comments)
-Sywu (1 comment)
Plus, performing smaller updates on a regular basis is less likely to break the installation, as oppo...
AdminBee‭ wrote 11 months ago
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Plus, performing smaller updates on a regular basis is less likely to break the installation, as opposed to one large update.

matthewsnyder‭ wrote 11 months ago
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Well, between say 1000 small updates that each have 0.1% chance of breakage, and 1 big update that has a 10% chance to break, there's not a huge difference. Both ways break rarely on Arch anyhow.

Normally, whenever I get on my computer, I have several things which are vastly more interesting to do than updating. So there is always a tendency to forget or procrastinate, which creates a vicious cycle.

Also, regrettably the developers of many programs I use are incompetent and frequently make foolish changes without due consideration and do not listen to user feedback. By updating less frequently, I am disrupted less often by these unwelcome changes, and they all happen together so I can at least deal with them all at the same time.