community.general.pacman module – Manage packages with pacman

Note

This module is part of the community.general collection (version 10.0.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.pacman.

Synopsis 

Manage packages with the pacman package manager, which is used by Arch Linux and its variants.

Parameters 

Parameter	Comments
executable string added in community.general 3.1.0	Path of the binary to use. This can either be `pacman` or a pacman compatible AUR helper. Pacman compatibility is unfortunately ill defined, in particular, this modules makes extensive use of the `--print-format` directive which is known not to be implemented by some AUR helpers (notably, `yay`). Beware that AUR helpers might behave unexpectedly and are therefore not recommended. Default: `"pacman"`
extra_args string	Additional option to pass to pacman when enforcing `state`. Default: `""`
force boolean	When removing packages, forcefully remove them, without any checks. Same as `extra_args="--nodeps --nodeps"`. When combined with `update_cache`, force a refresh of all package databases. Same as `update_cache_extra_args="--refresh --refresh"`. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
name aliases: package, pkg list / elements=string	Name or list of names of the package(s) or file(s) to install, upgrade, or remove. Cannot be used in combination with `upgrade`.
reason string added in community.general 5.4.0	The install reason to set for the packages. Choices: `"dependency"` `"explicit"`
reason_for string added in community.general 5.4.0	Set the install reason for `all` packages or only for `new` packages. In case of `state=latest` already installed packages which will be updated to a newer version are not counted as `new`. Choices: `"all"` `"new"` ← (default)
remove_nosave boolean added in community.general 4.6.0	When removing packages, do not save modified configuration files as `.pacsave` files. (passes `--nosave` to pacman) Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
state string	Whether to install (`present` or `installed`, `latest`), or remove (`absent` or `removed`) a package. `present` and `installed` will simply ensure that a desired package is installed. `latest` will update the specified package if it is not of the latest available version. `absent` and `removed` will remove the specified package. Choices: `"absent"` `"installed"` `"latest"` `"present"` ← (default) `"removed"`
update_cache boolean	Whether or not to refresh the master package lists. This can be run as part of a package installation or as a separate step. If not specified, it defaults to `false`. Please note that this option only had an influence on the module’s `changed` state if `name` and `upgrade` are not specified before community.general 5.0.0. See the examples for how to keep the old behavior. Choices: `false` `true`
update_cache_extra_args string	Additional option to pass to pacman when enforcing `update_cache`. Default: `""`
upgrade boolean	Whether or not to upgrade the whole system. Cannot be used in combination with `name`. If not specified, it defaults to `false`. Choices: `false` `true`
upgrade_extra_args string	Additional option to pass to pacman when enforcing `upgrade`. Default: `""`

Attributes 

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: full	Can run in `check_mode` and return changed status prediction without modifying target.
diff_mode	Support: full	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in `check_mode`), when in diff mode.

Notes 

Note

When used with a loop: each package will be processed individually, it is much more efficient to pass the list directly to the name option.
To use an AUR helper (executable option), a few extra setup steps might be required beforehand. For example, a dedicated build user with permissions to install packages could be necessary.
In the tests, while using yay as the executable option, the module failed to install AUR packages with the error: error: target not found: <pkg>.

Examples 

- name: Install package foo from repo
  community.general.pacman:
    name: foo
    state: present

- name: Install package bar from file
  community.general.pacman:
    name: ~/bar-1.0-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
    state: present

- name: Install package foo from repo and bar from file
  community.general.pacman:
    name:
      - foo
      - ~/bar-1.0-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
    state: present

- name: Install package from AUR using a Pacman compatible AUR helper
  community.general.pacman:
    name: foo
    state: present
    executable: yay
    extra_args: --builddir /var/cache/yay

- name: Upgrade package foo
  # The 'changed' state of this call will indicate whether the cache was
  # updated *or* whether foo was installed/upgraded.
  community.general.pacman:
    name: foo
    state: latest
    update_cache: true

- name: Remove packages foo and bar
  community.general.pacman:
    name:
      - foo
      - bar
    state: absent

- name: Recursively remove package baz
  community.general.pacman:
    name: baz
    state: absent
    extra_args: --recursive

- name: Run the equivalent of "pacman -Sy" as a separate step
  community.general.pacman:
    update_cache: true

- name: Run the equivalent of "pacman -Su" as a separate step
  community.general.pacman:
    upgrade: true

- name: Run the equivalent of "pacman -Syu" as a separate step
  # Since community.general 5.0.0 the 'changed' state of this call
  # will be 'true' in case the cache was updated, or when a package
  # was updated.
  #
  # The previous behavior was to only indicate whether something was
  # upgraded. To keep the old behavior, add the following to the task:
  #
  #   register: result
  #   changed_when: result.packages | length > 0
  community.general.pacman:
    update_cache: true
    upgrade: true

- name: Run the equivalent of "pacman -Rdd", force remove package baz
  community.general.pacman:
    name: baz
    state: absent
    force: true

- name: Install foo as dependency and leave reason untouched if already installed
  community.general.pacman:
    name: foo
    state: present
    reason: dependency
    reason_for: new

- name: Run the equivalent of "pacman -S --asexplicit", mark foo as explicit and install it if not present
  community.general.pacman:
    name: foo
    state: present
    reason: explicit
    reason_for: all

Return Values 

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
cache_updated boolean added in community.general 4.6.0	The changed status of `pacman -Sy`. Useful when `name` or `upgrade=true` are specified next to `update_cache=true`. Returned: success, when `update_cache=true` Sample: `false`
packages list / elements=string	A list of packages that have been changed. Before community.general 4.5.0 this was only returned when `upgrade=true`. In community.general 4.5.0, it was sometimes omitted when the package list is empty, but since community.general 4.6.0 it is always returned when `name` is specified or `upgrade=true`. Returned: success and `name` is specified or `upgrade=true` Sample: `["package", "other-package"]`
stderr string added in community.general 4.1.0	Error output from pacman. Returned: success, when needed Sample: `"warning: libtool: local (2.4.6+44+gb9b44533-14) is newer than core (2.4.6+42+gb88cebd5-15) warning ..."`
stdout string added in community.general 4.1.0	Output from pacman. Returned: success, when needed Sample: `":: Synchronizing package databases... core is up to date :: Starting full system upgrade..."`

Authors

Indrajit Raychaudhuri (@indrajitr)
Aaron Bull Schaefer (@elasticdog)
Maxime de Roucy (@tchernomax)
Jean Raby (@jraby)

community.general.pacman module – Manage packages with pacman

Synopsis

Parameters

Attributes

Notes

Examples

Return Values