diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/index.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/index.txt | 194 |
1 files changed, 194 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/index.txt b/doc/index.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f2e2304a --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/index.txt @@ -0,0 +1,194 @@ +Pacman Home Page +================ + +A simple library-based package manager + +Introduction +------------ +pacman is a utility which manages software packages in Linux. It uses simple +compressed files as a package format, and maintains a text-based package +database (more of a hierarchy), just in case some hand tweaking is necessary. + +pacman does not strive to "do everything." It will add, remove and upgrade +packages in the system, and it will allow you to query the package database for +installed packages, files and owners. It also attempts to handle dependencies +automatically and can download packages from a remote server. + +History +~~~~~~~ +Version 2.0 of pacman introduced the ability to sync packages (the `$$--sync$$` +option) with a master server through the use of package databases. Prior to +this, packages would have to be installed manually using the `$$--add$$` and +`$$--upgrade$$` operations. + +Version 3.0 was the switch to a two-part pacman- a backend named libalpm +(library for Arch Linux Package Management), and the familiar pacman frontend. +Speed in many cases was improved, along with dependency and conflict resolution +being able to handle a much wider variety of cases. The switch to a +library-based program should also make it easier in the future to develop +alternative front ends. + +Documentation +------------- + +Manpages +~~~~~~~~ +There are several manpages available for the programs, utilities, and +configuration files dealing with pacman. + +* linkman:PKGBUILD[5] +* linkman:libalpm[3] +* linkman:makepkg[8] +* linkman:makepkg.conf[5] +* linkman:pacman[8] +* linkman:pacman.conf[5] +* linkman:repo-add[8] + +Changelog +~~~~~~~~~ +For a good idea of what is going on in pacman development, take a look at the +link:http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=pacman.git[Gitweb] summary +page for the project. + +See the most recent +link:http://projects.archlinux.org/?p=pacman.git;a=blob_plain;f=NEWS;hb=HEAD[NEWS] +file for a not-as-frequently-updated list of changes. However, this should +contain the biggest changes in a format more concise than the commit log. + + +Releases +-------- + +`------------`------- +Date Version +--------------------- +2009-01-05 v3.2.2 +2008-08-26 v3.2.1 +2008-07-30 v3.2.0 +2008-04-01 v3.1.4 +2008-03-06 v3.1.3 +2008-02-20 v3.1.2 +2008-01-20 v3.1.1 +2008-01-09 v3.1.0 +2007-09-16 v3.0.6 +2007-06-17 v3.0.5 +2007-05-08 v3.0.4 +2007-04-28 v3.0.3 +2007-04-23 v3.0.2 +2007-04-04 v3.0.1 +2007-03-25 v3.0.0 +2006-02-02 v2.9.8 +2005-09-16 v2.9.7 +2005-06-10 v2.9.6 +2005-01-11 v2.9.5 +2004-12-19 v2.9.4 +2004-12-18 v2.9.3 +2004-09-25 v2.9.2 +2004-09-24 v2.9.1 +2004-09-18 v2.9 +--------------------- + +Source code for all releases is available at +link:ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/other/pacman/[]. To install, download the newest +available source tarball, unpack it in a directory, and run the three magic +commands: + + $ ./configure + $ make + # make install + +You may wish to read the options presented by `./configure --help` in order to +set appropriate paths and build options that are correct for your system. + +Development +----------- + +Mailing List +~~~~~~~~~~~~ +There is a mailing list devoted to pacman development, hosted by Arch Linux. +link:http://www.archlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/pacman-dev/[Subscribe] or +link:http://www.archlinux.org/pipermail/pacman-dev/[view the archives]. + +Source Code +~~~~~~~~~~~ +Development of pacman is currently done in GIT. The central repository is +hosted by Arch Linux, although some of the developers have their own trees (ask +on the above mailing lists if you are interested in finding the locations of +these trees). + +The current development tree can be fetched with the following command: + + git clone git://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git pacman + +which will fetch the full development history into a directory named pacman. +You can browse the source as well using +link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=pacman.git[Gitweb]. + +If you are interested in hacking on pacman, it is highly recommended you join +the mailing list mentioned above, as well as take a quick glance at our +link:HACKING.html[HACKING] document. +link:submitting-patches.html[submitting-patches] is also a recommended read. + +Not as familiar with code as you'd like to be, but still want to help out? If +you speak a foreign language, you can help by either creating or updating a +translation file for your native language. Instructions can be found in +link:translation-help.html[translation-help]. + +Other Utilities +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Although the package manager itself is quite simple, many scripts have been +developed that help automate building and installing packages. These are used +extensively in link:http://archlinux.org[Arch Linux]. Most of these utilities +are available in the Arch Linux projects +link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/gitweb.cgi[Gitweb browser]. + +Utilities available: + +* link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/?p=abs.git[abs] - ABS (Arch Build System), scripts to download & use the Arch Linux PKGBUILD tree +* link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/?p=devtools.git[devtools] - tools to assist in packaging and dependency checking +* link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/?p=namcap.git[namcap] - a package analysis utility written in python +* link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/?p=pacbuild.git[pacbuild] - a package building system utilizing a daemon +* link:http://projects.archlinux.org/git/?p=srcpac.git[srcpac] - a bash build-from-source pacman wrapper + +Bugs +---- +If you find bugs (which is quite likely), please email them to the pacman-dev +mailing last at mailto:pacman-dev@archlinux.org[] with specific information +such as your commandline, the nature of the bug, and even the package database +if it helps. + +You can also post a bug to the Archlinux bug tracker +link:http://bugs.archlinux.org/index.php?project=3[Flyspray]. Be sure to file +bugs under the Pacman project. + +Pacman/libalpm in the Wild +-------------------------- +Although Arch Linux is the primary user of pacman and libalpm, other +distributions and projects also use pacman as a package management tool. In +addition, there have been several projects started to provide a frontend GUI to +pacman and/or libalpm. + +Arch derivatives: + +* link:http://archie.dotsrc.org/[Archie] - Arch Live on steroids +* link:http://www.faunos.com/[FaunOS] - A portable, fully integrated operating system based on Arch Linux +* link:http://larch.berlios.de/[larch] - A live CD/DVD/USB-stick construction kit for Arch Linux + +Other distributions: + +* link:http://www.delilinux.org/[DeLi Linux] - "Desktop Light" Linux, a Linux distribution for old computers +* link:http://www.frugalware.org/[Frugalware Linux] - A general purpose Linux distribution for intermediate users (pacman is forked and maintained separately) + +Pacman/libalpm frontends: + +* link:http://shaman.iskrembilen.com/[Shaman] - A GUI frontend using Qt and libalpm + +Copyright +--------- +pacman is Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Dan McGee <dan@archlinux.org> and +Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Judd Vinet <jvinet@zeroflux.org> and is +licensed through the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. + +///// +vim: set ts=2 sw=2 syntax=asciidoc et: +///// |