Pacman Update Notifications - Monitor Arch Linux & Manjaro Updates

Update-Watcher’s Pacman checker monitors Arch Linux, Manjaro, and other Pacman-based distributions for available package updates. It syncs the package database and lists all upgradeable packages, reporting results through any of the 16 supported notification channels.

The setup wizard auto-detects Pacman and offers to enable this checker on Arch-based systems.

Prerequisites

An Arch Linux, Manjaro, or Pacman-based system.
Sudo access for the user running Update-Watcher (unless use_sudo is disabled). Syncing the package database typically requires root privileges.

Adding via CLI

Add a Pacman watcher:

Terminal

update-watcher watch pacman

Disable sudo if running as root:

Terminal

update-watcher watch pacman --no-sudo

Configuration Reference

Option	Type	Default	Description
`use_sudo`	bool	`true`	Run `pacman -Sy` with sudo. Disable if running as root or with appropriate permissions.

YAML Configuration Example

Basic Pacman configuration:

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: pacman

Configuration with sudo disabled (e.g., running as root):

config.yaml

watchers:
  - type: pacman
    use_sudo: false

How It Works

The Pacman checker performs two steps:

Step 1: Sync package database

Runs pacman -Sy (with sudo if configured) to synchronize the local package database with the remote repositories. This downloads the latest package lists without upgrading anything.

Step 2: List available upgrades

Runs pacman -Qu to query the local database for packages where a newer version is available in the synced repositories.

The checker reports each available update with the package name, currently installed version, and available version.

Tips

💡

AUR Packages: The Pacman checker only monitors official repository packages. AUR (Arch User Repository) packages managed through helpers like yay or paru are not included. The checker focuses on packages from the repositories configured in /etc/pacman.conf.

Manjaro and Derivatives: Manjaro uses the same Pacman package manager with its own repositories. The checker works identically on Manjaro – it syncs from whatever repositories are configured on the system.

Rolling Release Considerations: Arch Linux is a rolling release distribution, so the Pacman checker may report a large number of updates on systems that have not been updated recently. Running Update-Watcher on a daily cron schedule helps you stay aware of accumulated updates.

Send Pacman update notifications to Slack, Discord, Email, Telegram, or any of the other 16 supported notification channels.

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