arch-updater

arch-updater is a POSIX-compatible shell script designed for Arch Linux power users who demand absolute control over their system updates.

Unlike standard helpers that blindly update everything, this utility focuses on risk mitigation and stability. It allows you to granularly review changes, assess update risks based on package age and known issues, and segregate critical applications from system noise.

Key Features

• Risk Assessment: Instantly gauge the stability of an update via package age indicators (filtering out "fresh" and potentially unstable packages) and open issue tracking.
• Smart Categorization: Separate packages into "Important" (apps you monitor) and "Unimportant" (libraries, deps) to reduce cognitive load.
• Deep Insight: View detailed changelogs, diffs, and warnings relative to your currently installed version before committing to an update.
• Quick Links: Jump directly to upstream URLs to check for breaking changes or new features.
• Partial Upgrade Prevention: Guarantees system integrity by ensuring the local package database is never synchronized or modified during the initial scan or preview phase.
• Selective Updates: Cherry-pick exactly which packages to upgrade and which to hold back.
• Version Pinning: Permanently lock specific package versions to exclude them from future update cycles and ensure stability against accidental upgrades.
• Unified Management: Handle both official pacman repositories and AUR packages in a single view.

Screenshots

Main Interface

The main view showing categorized packages, update status, and stability metrics.

Package Details & Issues

Detailed view showing specific issues and changelogs for a selected package.

Dependencies

This utility is a standalone shell script, but relies on the following tools:

Required:

• pacman-contrib: For the checkupdates utility.
• yay: For AUR package access.
• fzf: Drives the terminal user interface.

Highly Recommended (for changelogs & metadata):

• curl, jq, expac

Optional:

• arch-log: Enhanced changelog fetching for pacman/AUR.

Installation

arch-updater can be installed as AUR package:

yay -S arch-updater

Important details

API Rate Limiting and Caching

To retrieve information regarding issues and package changes, the utility interacts with the GitLab and GitHub REST APIs.

To prevent GitHub and GitLab API rate limiting, arch-updater caches retrieved data and only initiates a new series of update requests if an hour boundary has been crossed since the last fetch. For example, data from a 09:20 run will be reused for all subsequent executions until 10:00; the first run after 10:00 will then trigger fresh API requests to update the information.

Version Pinning

arch-updater manages pinned packages through its own configuration rather than modifying /etc/pacman.conf, ensuring system integrity without requiring root privileges. Consequently, these update restrictions apply only when using this tool; performing a manual system upgrade via sudo pacman -Syu will bypass these pins and update all packages to their latest versions.

Interface Guide

The UI is divided into three sections: the Package List, Package details, and Keyboard shortcuts.

The Package List

This is your main workspace. Packages are grouped into distinct sections with headers to help you focus on what needs attention.

• Categorization & Layout:

  • The list is divided by headers. If a category is empty, its section and header will not be displayed.
  • Normal Packages: Regular packages, displayed in bright white.
  • Unimportant packages: Secondary packages, displayed in the default color.
  • Pinned packages: Packages that are locked to a specific version, displayed in gray.

• Status Indicators:

  • [UPGR]: The package is marked for an update.
  • [SKIP]: The package will not be updated.
  • [PIN]: The package is pinned and will not be updated.

• Package Format:

  • The package name and its origin are combined into a single string: name/repository (e.g., linux/core or yay/aur).

• Risk & Metadata Tags:

  • (X issues): Indicates that open issues exist for the new version.
  • (age: X): Shows how long the package has been in the repository.
    • Note: only shown for packages less than 48 hours old. Old packages with no issues usually imply lower risk.
  • (dep): Indicates the package was installed as a dependency, not explicitly.

Package details

When a package is selected, the preview pane shows:

1. Metadata: Standard package manager info.
2. Changelog: A concise log of changes specifically between your installed version and the new version.
3. Issues: A list of new issues reported since your currently installed version (if applicable).

Controls

Navigation

Navigation is performed using standard fzf key bindings:

• Up / Down: Move selection up or down.
• PgUp / PgDn: Scroll the list by page.
• Home / End: Jump to the beginning or end of the list.
• Shift-Up / Shift-Down: Scroll the preview window content.

Application Actions

Key	Action
Space	Toggle update status (Upgrade / Skip)
Ctrl-S	Toggle category (Important / Unimportant)
Ctrl-P	Toggle pinning (Pin / Unpin)
Enter	Open package URL (Check news/breaking changes)
?	Toggle Detail/Preview pane
Ctrl-A	Mark ALL packages for upgrade
Ctrl-U	Mark ALL packages to skip
Alt-Enter	Execute Updates (Apply changes)
Esc / Ctrl-C	Exit without updating

Workflow

1. Launch: Run arch-updater in your terminal.
2. Review: Scroll through the list.
   • Check for packages with low "Age" or "Issues" flagged.
   • Use Space to uncheck updates you deem risky or unnecessary.
   • Use Ctrl-S to categorize noise (libs) as unimportant for future runs.
3. Verify: Read changelogs in the preview pane for critical packages.
4. Execute: Press Alt-Enter.
   • The script will update official packages first.
   • AUR updates will follow.

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2025 Konstantin Kushnir chpock@gmail.com