Download packages for full system upgrade without installing
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?
1 answer
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Upgrades all packages that are out-of-date.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.
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