Official repositories

Related articles
Arch build system
Arch User Repository
Mirrors
Official repositories web interface
PKGBUILD
Unofficial user repositories
makepkg
A
software repository
is a storage location from which software packages are retrieved for installation.
Arch Linux
official repositories
contain essential and popular software, readily accessible via
pacman
. They are maintained by
package maintainers
.
Packages in the official repositories are
constantly upgraded
: when a package is upgraded, its old version is removed from the repository. There are no major Arch releases: each package is upgraded as new versions become available from upstream sources.
Each repository is always coherent, i.e. the packages that it hosts always have reciprocally compatible versions.
Stable repositories
core
This repository can be found in
.../core/os/
on your favorite
mirror
.
core
contains packages for:
booting Arch Linux
connecting to the Internet
building packages
management and repair of supported
file systems
the system setup process (e.g.
openssh
)
as well as dependencies of the above (not necessarily
makedepends
) and the
base
meta package
.
core
has fairly strict quality requirements. Developers/users need to signoff on updates before package updates are accepted. For packages with low usage, a reasonable exposure is enough: informing people about update, requesting signoffs, keeping in
core-testing
up to a week depending on the severity of the change, lack of outstanding bug reports, along with the implicit signoff of the package maintainer.
Tip
To create a local repository with packages from
core
(or other repositories) without an internet connection, see
Pacman tips#Installing packages from a CD/DVD or USB stick
.
extra
This repository can be found in
.../extra/os/
on your favorite mirror.
extra
contains all packages that do not fit in
core
.
This repository is jointly maintained by the
Package Maintainers
and Arch Developers. 
Examples: Xorg, window managers, web browsers, media players, tools for working with languages such as Python and Ruby, and a lot more.
multilib
This repository can be found in
.../multilib/os/
on your favorite mirror.
multilib
contains 32-bit software and libraries that can be used to run and build 32-bit applications on 64-bit installs (e.g.
Steam
etc.).
With the
multilib
repository enabled, the 32-bit compatible libraries are located under
/usr/lib32/
.
Enabling multilib
To enable
multilib
repository, uncomment the
[multilib]
section in
/etc/pacman.conf
:
/etc/pacman.conf
[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Then
upgrade
the system and install the desired
multilib
packages.
Tip
Run
pacman -Sl multilib
to list all packages in the
multilib
repository. 32-bit library package names begin with
lib32-
.
Disabling multilib
Execute the following command to remove all packages that were installed from
multilib
:
# pacman -R $(comm -12 <(pacman -Qq | sort) <(pacman -Slq multilib | sort))
If you have conflicts with gcc-libs reinstall the
gcc-libs
package and the dependencies of the
base-devel
package (see
Pacman/Tips and tricks#Dependencies of a package
).
Note
If the command returns
error: no targets specified (use -h for help)
that means that there are no packages from the
multilib
repository installed on your system.
Comment out the
[multilib]
section in
/etc/pacman.conf
:
/etc/pacman.conf
#[multilib]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Then
upgrade
the system.
Testing repositories
The intended purpose of the testing repositories is to provide a staging area for packages to be placed prior to acceptance into the main repositories. Package maintainers (and general users) can then access these testing packages to make sure that there are no problems integrating the new package. Once a package has been tested and no errors are found, the package can then be moved to the primary repositories.
Not all packages need to go through this testing process. New packages go into a testing repository if:
They are destined for the
core
repository. Everything in
core
must go through
core-testing
.
They are expected to break something on update and need to be tested first.
They affect many packages (such as
perl
or
python
).
They are built by a
Junior Package Maintainer
.
The testing repositories are also usually used for new releases of large collections of packages such as
GNOME
and
KDE
.
Note
The testing repositories are not for the "newest of the new" package versions. Part of their purpose is to hold package updates that have the potential to break the system, either by being part of the
core
set of packages, or by being critical in other ways. As such, users of the testing repositories are strongly encouraged to subscribe to the
arch-dev-public mailing list
, watch the
testing repositories forum
, and to
report all bugs
. You should also consider joining the
Arch Testing Team
.
Warning
Testing repositories may contain pre-release software versions.
Be careful when enabling the testing repositories. Your system may break after performing an update. Only experienced users who know how to deal with potential system breakage should use it.
If you enable
core-testing
, you
must
also enable
extra-testing
, and vice versa. If you enable any other testing repository listed in the following subsections, you
must
also enable both
core-testing
and
extra-testing
.
Since not all packages in the main repositories have their versions in the testing repositories, the
core
and
extra
main repositories should be retained, and the corresponding testing repositories should be in front of the main repository.
core-testing
This repository can be found in
.../core-testing/os/
on your favorite mirror.
core-testing
contains packages that are candidates for the
core
repository.
core-testing
is the only repository that can have name collisions with any of the other official repositories. If enabled, it has to be the first repository listed in your
/etc/pacman.conf
file.
extra-testing
This repository is similar to the
core-testing
repository, but for packages that are candidates for the
extra
repository.
multilib-testing
This repository is similar to the
core-testing
repository, but for packages that are candidates for the
multilib
repository.
gnome-unstable
This repository contains testing packages for pre-releases (
Alpha
,
Beta
,
RC
) as well as stable versions of the
GNOME
desktop environment, prior to their transition to the main
extra-testing
repository.
To enable it, add the following lines to
/etc/pacman.conf
:
/etc/pacman.conf
[gnome-unstable]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
The
gnome-unstable
entry should be at the top in the list of repositories (i.e., above the enabled
core-testing
entry;
see warnings above
).
Please report packaging related bugs in
Arch's GitLab
, while anything else should be reported upstream to
GNOME GitLab
.
For additional assistance and information regarding this repository, please join the
Matrix Group
.
kde-unstable
This repository contains the latest
beta
or
Release Candidate
of
KDE
Plasma and Applications.
To enable it, add the following lines to
/etc/pacman.conf
:
/etc/pacman.conf
[kde-unstable]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
The
kde-unstable
entry should be at the top in the list of repositories (i.e., above the enabled
core-testing
entry;
see warnings above
).
Make sure
you make bug reports
if you find any problems.
Disabling testing repositories
If you enabled testing repositories, but later on decided to disable them, you should:
Remove (comment out) them from
/etc/pacman.conf
Perform a
pacman -Syuu
to "rollback" your updates from these repositories.
The second item is optional, but keep it in mind if you notice any problems.
Staging repositories
Warning
Do not enable the
staging
repositories for any reason. Your system will unquestionably break after performing an update. This repository is only meant for backend developer use.
This repository contains broken packages and is used solely by developers during rebuilds of many packages at once. In order to rebuild packages that depend on, for example, a new shared library, the shared library itself must first be built and uploaded to the staging repositories to be made available to other developers. As soon as all dependent packages are rebuilt, the group of packages is then moved to the testing or the main repositories, whichever is more appropriate.
See
the announcement of the introduction of the staging repositories
for more historical details.
Historical background
Most of the repository splits are for historical reasons. Originally, when Arch Linux was used by very few users, there was only one repository known as
official
(now
core
). At the time,
official
basically contained Judd Vinet's preferred applications. It was designed to contain one of each "type" of program — one DE, one major browser etc.
There were users back then that did not like Judd's selection, so since the
Arch build system
is so easy to use, they created packages of their own. These packages went into a repository called
unofficial
, and were maintained by developers other than Judd. Eventually, the two repositories were both considered equally supported by the developers, so the names
official
and
unofficial
no longer reflected their true purpose. They were subsequently renamed to
current
and
extra
sometime near the release version 0.5.
Shortly after the 2007.8.1 release,
current
was renamed
core
in order to prevent confusion over what exactly it contains. The repositories are now more or less equal in the eyes of the developers and the community, but
core
does have some differences. The main distinction is that packages used for Installation CDs and release snapshots are taken only from
core
. This repository still gives a complete Linux system, though it may not be the Linux system you want.
Some time around 0.5/0.6, there were a lot of packages that the developers did not want to maintain.
Jason Chu
set up the "Trusted User Repositories", which were unofficial repositories in which trusted users could place packages they had created. There was a
staging
repository where packages could be promoted into the official repositories by one of the Arch Linux developers, but other than this, the developers and trusted users were more or less distinct.
This worked for a while, but not when trusted users got bored with their repositories, and not when other users wanted to share their own packages. This led to the development of the
AUR
. The Trusted Users were conglomerated into a more closely knit group, and they now collectively maintained the
community
repository. The TUs were still a separate group from the Arch Linux developers, and there was not a lot of communication between them. However, popular packages were still promoted from
community
to
extra
on occasion. The
AUR
also allows all users to submit PKGBUILDs.
After a kernel in
core
broke many user systems
, the "core signoff policy" was introduced. Since then, all package updates for
core
need to go through the
core-testing
repository first, and only after multiple signoffs from other developers or people on the
Arch Testing Team
are then allowed to move. Over time, it was noticed that various
core
packages had low usage, and user signoffs or even lack of bug reports became informally accepted as criteria to accept such packages.
In late 2009/the beginning of 2010, with the advent of some new filesystems and the desire to support them during installation, along with the realization that
core
was never clearly defined (just "important packages, handpicked by developers"), the repository received a more accurate description.
This article or section needs expansion.
Reason:
The history from 2010 to 2023 is absent: answering how we got from "The Trusted Users are still a separate group from the Arch Linux developers, and there is not a lot of communication between them" to having them being considered a full part of the distribution should be documented. (Discuss in
Talk:Official repositories
)
Starting in 2021, and finalized in late 2023, the "Trusted Users" were renamed to "Package Maintainers".
In 2023 after years of prior work the distribution
migrated their back-end services to git
and in the same run also switched to a new repository layout. In the new layout
extra
would contain all packages that were previously in
community
and the testing repositories were split from
testing
to
core-testing
and
extra-testing
,
community-testing
was removed entirely. From that point on the
Package Maintainers
were also able to push new packages to
extra
.