yay

Interactively search and install packages from the repos and AUR

$ yay [package_name|search_term]

$ yay

$ yay -Sua

$ yay -S [package]

$ yay -Rns [package]

$ yay -Ss [keyword]

$ yay -Yc

$ yay -Ps

yay <operation> [options] [targets]

yay <search terms>

yay

Yay is a Pacman wrapper with AUR support. It passes options to Makepkg and Pacman after resolving packages to install/upgrade.

This manpage only covers options unique to Yay. For other options see pacman(8).

-Y, --yay

Perform yay specific operations. This is the default if no other operation is selected.

-P, --show

Perform yay specific print operations.

-G, --getpkgbuild

Downloads PKGBUILD from ABS or AUR. The ABS can only be used for Arch Linux repositories

If no arguments are provided 'yay -Syu' will be performed.

If no operation is selected -Y will be assumed.

-S, -Si, -Sl, -Ss, -Su, -Sc, -Qu

These operations are extended to support both AUR and repo packages.

-Sc

Yay will also clean cached AUR package and any untracked Files in the cache. Cleaning untracked files will wipe any downloaded sources or built packages but will keep already downloaded vcs sources.

-R

Yay will also remove cached data about devel packages.

--repo

Assume all targets are from the repositories. Additionally Actions such as sysupgrade will only act on repository packages.

-a, --aur

Assume all targets are from the AUR. Additionally Actions such as sysupgrade will only act on AUR packages.

Note that dependency resolving will still act normally and include repository packages.

<NO OPTION>

Displays a list of packages matching the search terms and prompts the user on which packages to install (yogurt mode).

--gendb

Generate development package database. Tracks the latest commit for each development package, when there is a new commit Yay will know to update. This is done per package whenever a package is synced. This option should only be used when migrating to Yay from another AUR helper.

-c, --clean

Remove unneeded dependencies.

-c, --complete

Print a list of all AUR and repo packages. This allows shell completion and is not intended to be used directly by the user.

-f, --fish

During complete adjust the output for the fish shell.

-d, --defaultconfig

Print default yay configuration.

-g, --currentconfig

Print current yay configuration.

-n, --numberupgrades

Deprecated, use yay -Qu and wc -l instead.

-s, --stats

Displays information about installed packages and system health. If there are orphaned, or out-of-date packages, or packages that no longer exist on the AUR; warnings will be displayed.

-u, --upgrades

Deprecated, use yay -Qu instead.

-w, --news

Print new news from the Archlinux homepage. News is considered new if it is newer than the build date of all native packages. Pass this twice to show all available news.

-q, --quiet

Only show titles when printing news.

-f, --force

Force download for ABS packages that already exist in the current directory. This ensures directories are not accidentally overwritten.

-p, --print

Prints the PKGBUILD of the given packages to stdout.

--save

Causes the following options to be saved back to the config file. This provides an easy way to change config options without directly editing the file.

--aururl

Set an alternative AUR URL. This is mostly useful for users in China who wish to use https://aur.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/.

--builddir <dir>

Directory to use for Building AUR Packages. This directory is also used as the AUR cache when deciding if Yay should skip builds.

--editor <command>

Editor to use when editing PKGBUILDs. If this is not set the EDITOR environment variable will be checked, followed by VISUAL. If none of these are set Yay will prompt the user for an editor.

--editorflags <flags>

Passes arguments to the editor. These flags get passed to every instance where the editor is called by Yay. Arguments are split on whitespace before being passed to the editor. Multiple arguments may be passed by supplying a space separated list that is quoted by the shell.

--makepkg <command>

The command to use for makepkg calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file.

--pacman <command>

The command to use for pacman calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file.

--tar <command>

The command to use for bsdtar calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file.

--git <command>

The command to use for git calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file.

--gpg <command>

The command to use for gpg calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file.

--config <file>

The pacman config file to use.

--makepkgconf <file>

The config file for makepkg to use. If this is not set then the default config file will be used.

--nomakepkgconf

Reset the makepkg config file back to its default.

--requestsplitn <number>

The maximum amount of packages to request per AUR query. The higher the number the faster AUR requests will be. Requesting too many packages in one AUR query will cause an error. This should only make a noticeable difference with very large requests (>500) packages.

--completioninterval <days>

Time in days to refresh the completion cache. Setting this to 0 will cause the cache to be refreshed every time, while setting this to -1 will cause the cache to never be refreshed.

--sortby <votes|popularity|id|baseid|name|base|submitted|modified>

Sort AUR results by a specific field during search.

--searchby <name|name-desc|maintainer|depends|checkdepends|makedepends|optdepends>

Search for AUR packages by querying the specified field.

--answerclean <All|None|Installed|NotInstalled|...>

Set a predetermined answer for the clean build menu question. This answer will be used instead of reading from standard input but will be parsed exactly the same.

--answerdiff <All|None|Installed|NotInstalled|...>

Set a predetermined answer for the edit diff menu question. This answer will be used instead of reading from standard input but will be parsed exactly the same.

--answeredit <All|None|Installed|NotInstalled|...>

Set a predetermined answer for the edit pkgbuild menu question. This answer will be used instead of reading from standard input but will be parsed exactly the same.

--answerupgrade <Repo|^Repo|None|...>

Set a predetermined answer for the upgrade menu question. Selects which package ranges or repos to omit for updates. This answer will be used instead of reading from standard input but will be treated exactly the same.

--noanswerclean

Unset the answer for the clean build menu.

--noanswerdiff

Unset the answer for the diff menu.

--noansweredit

Unset the answer for the edit pkgbuild menu.

--noanswerupgrade

Unset the answer for the upgrade menu.

--cleanmenu

Show the clean menu. This menu gives you the chance to fully delete the downloaded build files from Yay's cache before redownloading a fresh copy.

--diffmenu

Show the diff menu. This menu gives you the option to view diffs from build files before building.

Diffs are shown via git diff which uses less by default. This behaviour can be changed via git's config, the $GIT_PAGER or $PAGER environment variables.

--editmenu

Show the edit menu. This menu gives you the option to edit or view PKGBUILDs before building.

Warning: Yay resolves dependencies ahead of time via the RPC. It is not recommended to edit pkgbuild variables unless you know what you are doing.

--upgrademenu

Show a detailed list of updates in a similar format to VerbosePkgLists. Upgrades can also be skipped using numbers, number ranges or repo names. Additionally ^ can be used to invert the selection.

Warning: It is not recommended to skip updates from the repositories as this can lead to partial upgrades. This feature is intended to easily skip AUR updates on the fly that may be broken or have a long compile time. Ultimately it is up to the user what upgrades they skip.

--nocleanmenu

Do not show the clean menu.

--nodiffmenu

Do not show the diff menu.

--noeditmenu

Do not show the edit menu.

--noupgrademenu

Do not show the upgrade menu.

--askremovemake

Ask to remove makedepends after installing packages.

--removemake

Remove makedepends after installing packages.

--noremovemake

Do not remove makedepends after installing packages.

--topdown

Display repository packages first and then AUR packages.

--bottomup

Show AUR packages first and then repository packages.

--singlelineresults

Override pacman's usual double-line search result format and list each result on its own line.

--doublelineresults

Follow pacman's double-line search result format and list each result using two lines.

--devel

During sysupgrade also check AUR development packages for updates. Currently only Git packages are supported.

Devel checking is done using git ls-remote. The newest commit hash is compared against the hash at install time. This allows devel updates to be checked almost instantly and not require the original pkgbuild to be downloaded.

The slower pacaur-like devel checks can be implemented manually by piping a list of packages into yay (see examples).

--nodevel

Do not check for development packages updates during sysupgrade.

--cleanafter

Remove untracked files after installation.

Untracked files are removed with the exception of directories. This allows VCS packages to easily pull an update instead of having to reclone the entire repo.

--nocleanafter

Do not remove package sources after successful Install.

--timeupdate

During sysupgrade also compare the build time of installed packages against the last modification time of each package's AUR page.

--notimeupdate

Do not consider build times during sysupgrade.

--redownload

Always download pkgbuilds of targets even when a copy is available in cache.

--redownloadall

Always download pkgbuilds of all AUR packages even when a copy is available in cache.

--noredownload

When downloading pkgbuilds if the pkgbuild is found in cache and is equal or newer than the AUR's version use that instead of downloading a new one.

--provides

Look for matching providers when searching for AUR packages. When multiple providers are found a menu will appear prompting you to pick one. This increases dependency resolve time although this should not be noticeable.

--noprovides

Do not look for matching providers when searching for AUR packages. Yay will never show its provider menu but Pacman will still show its provider menu for repo packages.

--pgpfetch

Prompt to import unknown PGP keys from the validpgpkeys field of each PKGBUILD.

--nopgpfetch

Do not prompt to import unknown PGP keys. This is likely to cause a build failure unless using options such as --skippgpcheck or a customized gpg config.

--useask

Use pacman's --ask flag to automatically confirm package conflicts. Yay lists conflicts ahead of time. It is possible that Yay does not detect a conflict, causing a package to be removed without the user's confirmation. However, this is very unlikely.

--nouseask

Manually resolve package conflicts during the install. Packages which do not conflict will not need to be confined manually.

--combinedupgrade

During sysupgrade, Yay will first perform a refresh, then show its combined menu of repo and AUR packages that will be upgraded. Then after reviewing the pkgbuilds, the repo and AUR upgrade will start with no need for manual intervention.

If Yay exits for any reason After the refresh without upgrading. It is then the user's responsibility to either resolve the reason Yay exited or run a sysupgrade through pacman directly.

--nocombinedupgrade

During sysupgrade, Pacman -Syu will be called, then the AUR upgrade will start. This means the upgrade menu and pkgbuild review will be performed after the sysupgrade has finished.

--batchinstall

When building and installing AUR packages instead of installing each package after building, queue each package for install. Then once either all packages are built or a package in the build queue is needed as a dependency to build another package, install all the packages in the install queue.

--nobatchinstall

Always install AUR packages immediately after building them.

--rebuild

Always build target packages even when a copy is available in cache.

--rebuildall

Always build all AUR packages even when a copy is available in cache.

--rebuildtree

When installing an AUR package rebuild and reinstall all of its AUR dependencies recursively, even the ones already installed. This flag allows you to easily rebuild packages against your current system's libraries if they have become incompatible.

--norebuild

When building packages if the package is found in cache and is an equal version to the one wanted skip the package build and use the existing package.

--mflags <flags>

Passes arguments to makepkg. These flags get passed to every instance where makepkg is called by Yay. Arguments are split on whitespace before being passed to makepkg. Multiple arguments may be passed by supplying a space separated list that is quoted by the shell.

--gpgflags <flags>

Passes arguments to gpg. These flags get passed to every instance where gpg is called by Yay. Arguments are split on whitespace before being passed to gpg. Multiple arguments may be passed by supplying a space separated list that is quoted by the shell.

--sudo <command>

The command to use for sudo calls. This can be a command in PATH or an absolute path to the file. The sudoloop is not guaranteed to work with a custom sudo command.

--sudoflags <flags>

Passes arguments to sudo. These flags get passed to every instance where sudo is called by Yay. Arguments are split on whitespace before being passed to sudo. Multiple arguments may be passed by supplying a space separated list that is quoted by the shell.

--sudoloop

Loop sudo calls in the background to prevent sudo from timing out during long builds.

--nosudoloop

Do not loop sudo calls in the background.

yay foo

Search and install from the repos and the AUR using yogurt mode.

yay -Syu

Update package list and upgrade all currently installed repo and AUR.

yay -Sua

Update all currently installed AUR packages.

yay -S foo

Installs package foo from the repos or the AUR.

yay -Ss foo

Searches for package foo on the repos or the AUR.

yay -Si foo

Gets information about package foo from the repos or the AUR.

yay -S foo --mflags "--skipchecksums --skippgpcheck"

Installs foo while skipping checksums and pgp checks.

yay --devel --save

Sets devel to true in the config.

yay -P --stats

Shows statistics for installed packages and system health.

pacman -Qmq | grep -Ee '-(cvs|svn|git|hg|bzr|darcs)$' | yay -S --needed -

pacaur-like devel check.

AURDEST

Can be set to configure the build directory.

Overridden by --builddir.

VISUAL, EDITOR

When editor is not configured, use these variables to pick what editor to use when editing PKGBUILDS.

CONFIG DIRECTORY

The config directory is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/yay/. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset, the config directory will fall back to $HOME/.config/yay.

config.json Is used to store all of Yay's config options. Editing this file should be done through Yay, using the options mentioned in PERMANENT CONFIGURATION SETTINGS.

CACHE DIRECTORY

The cache directory is $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yay/. If $XDG_CACHE_HOME is unset, the cache directory will fall back to $HOME/.cache/yay.

completion.cache holds a list of of all packages, including the AUR, for shell completion. By default the completion files are refreshed every 7 days.

vcs.json tracks VCS packages and the latest commit of each source. If any of these commits change the package will be upgraded during a devel update.

BUILD DIRECTORY

Unless otherwise set this should be the same as CACHE DIRECTORY. This directory is used to store downloaded AUR Packages as well as any source files and built packages from those packages.

PACMAN.CONF

Yay uses Pacman's config file to set certain pacman options either through go-alpm or Yay itself. Options inherited include most libalpm options and pacman options.

Notably: Databases, Color and *Path/*Dir options are used.

Please report bugs to our GitHub page https://github.com/Jguer/yay

Jguer <joaogg3@gmail.com>
Morgan <morganamilo@archlinux.org>

makepkg(8), makepkg.conf(5), PKGBUILD(5), pacman(8), pacman.conf(5) See the arch wiki at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository for more info on the AUR.