Pacman (package manager)
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| Developer | Aaron Griffin and others |
|---|---|
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | March 11, 2002 |
| Latest release | Rolling release / installation medium 2017.03.01 |
| Marketing target | General purpose |
| Package manager | pacman |
| Platforms | |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
| Userland | GNU |
| Default user interface | CLI |
| License | Free software (GPL and other licenses) |
| Official website | www |
Arch Linux (or Arch /ˈɑːrtʃ/) is a Linux distribution for computers based on i686 and x86-64 architectures. It is composed predominantly of free and open-source software, and supports community involvement.
The design approach of the development team follows the KISS principle ("keep it simple, stupid") as the general guideline, and focuses on elegance, code correctness, minimalism and simplicity, and expects the user to be willing to make some effort to understand the system's operation. A package manager written specifically for Arch Linux, pacman, is used to install, remove and update software packages.
Arch Linux uses a rolling release model, such that a regular system update is all that is needed to obtain the latest Arch software; the installation images released by the Arch team are simply up-to-date snapshots of the main system components.
Inspired by CRUX, another minimalist distribution, Judd Vinet started Arch Linux in March 2002. Vinet led Arch Linux until 1 October 2007, when he stepped down due to lack of time, transferring control of the project to Aaron Griffin.
Originally only for 32-bit x86 CPUs, the first x86_64 installation ISO was released in 2006. The end of i686 support was announced in January 2017, with the February 2017 ISO being the last one including i686, and finally making the architecture unsupported in November 2017.
Until pacman version 4.0.0 Arch Linux's package manager lacked support for signed packages. Packages and metadata were not verified for authenticity by pacman during the download-install process. Without package authentication checking, tampered-with or malicious repository mirrors can compromise the integrity of a system.Pacman 4 allowed verification of the package database and packages, but it was disabled by default. In November 2011 package signing became mandatory for new package builds, and as of 21 March 2012 every official package is signed.
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