pacman-debian

A package manager that adopts the Arch Linux pacman command-line syntax while operating directly on Debian/Ubuntu .deb packages. It manages packages at the dpkg level — bypassing APT — and also supports native Arch Linux .pkg.tar.zst packages (including AUR compatibility via yay with a bundled libalpm).

Highlights (some of the notable features):

• Zero dpkg dependency — version comparison algorithm ported from libdpkg, dpkg status parsed directly, no dpkg command required
• Byte-indexed database — sorted idx with binary search, JSONL chunk storage
• In-memory cache — idx files loaded once, package data cached by offset
• Sub-100ms search — across 3000+ packages via idx scan + cached reads
• Release-based Debian sync — fetches InRelease/Release first, validates SHA256 before downloading Packages (like apt)
• XferCommand — custom download commands (aria2c, curl, wget)
• Paclink file backend — mappings stored in /var/lib/pacman-debian/paclinks, C shim reads directly, no recompilation needed for new mappings
• Official-style operation help — -S, -R, -Q, -D, -T, -F, and -U each have their own localized --help output
• Better upgrade summaries — verbose upgrades show repository, old/new versions, download size, and net installed-size change
• More complete upgrades — -Syu handles dpkg-only packages and explicit targets through the same transaction path
• Safer package source changes — source takeover warnings and localized confirmation prompts are shown before package records and files change owners
• More reliable local database lookups — package names are matched exactly, so packages such as pipewire and pipewire-bin cannot be confused
• Pacman-style version output — pacman -V and pacman pacman show the Pac-Man banner with localized version text
• Standalone paclink source — Arch-to-Debian mappings sync from the separate xbodwf/paclinks repository and write dpkg Provides: entries
• Fast mapping transactions — paclink -Syu applies mapping changes in a batch instead of rewriting local indexes for every package
• Official-style progress output — downloading, install/upgrade/downgrade/reinstall, and removal progress bars mirror upstream pacman, with .pacnew and "local package is newer than the repository" warnings
• Foreign package query — -Qm/-Qmq list installed packages not in any synced repository, and -S -/-U - read the target list from stdin

Introduction

Goals

• Provide a consistent, pacman-style CLI for package management on Debian-based systems, eliminating the conceptual overhead of switching between apt, dpkg, and their various frontends.
• Support multi-repository setups combining Debian/Ubuntu and Arch Linux repositories under a single tool.
• Maintain full compatibility with dpkg's database (/var/lib/dpkg/status), allowing coexistence with APT and other dpkg frontends.
• Provide a libalpm ABI-compatible shared library so that Go-based AUR helpers (yay) can work on Debian without modification.

Project Status

Functional for day-to-day package management on Debian-based distributions. See Project Status for details.

Installation

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Debian-based distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Armbian, Linux Mint, etc.)
• Root privileges for write operations
• Build essentials: gcc, make, ldconfig (for libalpm C library)

Install

sudo npm install -g pacman-debian@latest
sudo $(which pacman-debian-setup)

[!WARNING] npm install -g must be run under sudo or as the root user. If you install as a regular user, Node.js will place pacman-debian into your home directory (~/.npm-global/ or similar), making it susceptible to tampering, malicious modification, or breakage by other users or scripts on the system. Always use sudo npm install -g.

After installation, run this to migrate the system's APT sources and start using pacman-debian:

sudo pacmigrate setup

Then sync the package sources and perform a full system upgrade:

sudo pacman -Sy
sudo pacman -Syu

pacmigrate setup reads both traditional sources.list/.list files and Ubuntu 24.04 deb822 .sources files. It leaves the APT files untouched, backs up the current pacman-debian configuration, and asks about common pacman options.

Synchronize Arch-to-Debian compatibility mappings separately:

sudo paclink -Syu

paclink uses the standalone paclinks repository as its mapping source. -Sy syncs it, -Su uses the cached source, and -U installs a local mapping file. Mapping packages are activated only when their Debian targets are installed. Active mappings are also written as dpkg Provides: entries, so APT and dpkg dependency checks can see them. Removing a target removes the mapping and warns if an installed Arch package still depends on that virtual name. See paclink documentation for verification commands.

Development Install

git clone https://github.com/xbodwf/pacman-debian.git
cd pacman-debian
pnpm install && pnpm build
sudo node dist/scripts/setup.js

See Installation for details.

Quick Start

# Search
pacman -Ss neofetch

# Install
sudo pacman -S neofetch

# Remove
sudo pacman -R neofetch

# Upgrade all
sudo pacman -Syu

# Query installed
pacman -Q

See Usage for complete command reference.

Documentation

| Topic | English | 中文 | |-------|---------|------| | Usage (full command reference) | docs/en/usage.md | docs/zh-CN/usage.md | | Configuration | docs/en/configuration.md | docs/zh-CN/configuration.md | | Architecture & Database | docs/en/architecture.md | docs/zh-CN/architecture.md | | makepkg | docs/en/makepkg.md | docs/zh-CN/makepkg.md | | libalpm & yay/AUR | docs/en/yay-aur.md | docs/zh-CN/yay-aur.md | | paclink (package links) | docs/en/paclink.md | docs/zh-CN/paclink.md | | Installation (detailed) | docs/en/installation.md | docs/zh-CN/installation.md |

License

GNU General Public License v3.0