software catalog

content/software/pacman-contrib.md

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+---
+title: "pacman-contrib"
+category: "Desktop and system"
+tagline: "Extra pacman tools: cache cleaning, update checks, dependency trees and more."
+source: "pacman"
+package: "pacman-contrib"
+command: "paccache"
+code: "https://gitlab.archlinux.org/pacman/pacman-contrib"
+links:
+  - name: "Cleaning the package cache"
+    url: "https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman#Cleaning_the_package_cache"
+---
+
+## What it is
+
+pacman-contrib is a set of small tools that go with pacman, Arch's package manager. `paccache` cleans old package files out of pacman's cache, `checkupdates` lists available updates without touching your system, `pactree` shows what a package depends on, and `pacdiff` helps merge changed configuration files after an update.
+
+```
+pactree -r openssl
+```
+
+## Why it's here
+
+- **Disk space.** pacman keeps every package it downloads, and paccache trims that.
+- **Answers about packages.** See why something is installed, or what depends on it.
+- **Config merges.** pacdiff finds the `.pacnew` files updates leave behind.
+
+## On CoreDesktop
+
+pacman-contrib is installed from pacman as one of CoreDesktop's maintenance tools. At the end of each [`update`](/utilities/#update), `paccache` keeps the two most recent versions of each installed package in the cache and removes all cached versions of uninstalled ones. If `update` stops because `/` is low on space, `sudo paccache -rk1` frees more.