pkgcli - Man Page

pkgcli [GLOBAL-OPTIONS...] COMMAND [COMMAND-OPTIONS...] [ARGUMENTS...]

pkgcli is a command line client for PackageKit, a distribution-neutral interface to the operating system's package manager​. It provides a set of subcommands for querying and managing software packages, repositories and transaction history​.

Use pkgcli --help to get a list of available commands, and pkgcli COMMAND --help for command-specific help​.

The following options are parsed before the command name and affect most subcommands:

-v,  --version

Show the pkgcli version and exit​.

-h,  --help

Show generic help and a list of available commands​.

-q,  --quiet

Only provide minimal output​.

--verbose

Show more detailed and debug-style output​.

--json

Output results in JSON format suitable for consumption by other tools​. Output is generated in the JSONL (JSON Lines) format, with one JSON object per line​.

--no-color

Disable colored terminal output​. This is also enabled when the NO_COLOR environment variable is set​.

-y,  --yes

Answer “yes” to all questions and run in non-interactive mode​.

-f,  --filter=FILTER

Apply one or more filters when querying packages, such as restricting results to installed or available packages​. You can view all supported filter options by running pkgcli organization​.

-n,  --background

Hint that the command is not urgent and may use idle network bandwidth and power-saving settings where supported​.

The following commands are available:

backend

Display information about the PackageKit backend currently in use, including the backend name, version, and the roles it supports​.

history

Show a list of recent package management transactions (like installation, removal, and update operations performed on the system)​.

search

Search for packages matching a given pattern​. The first argument may optionally be one of name, details, file or group, to limit the search to the selected domain​. If only one argument is given, a search across package details (name, summary, and description) is performed​.

list

List packages, optionally filtered by installation status or name pattern​. Use with --filter to show only installed, available, or other categories of packages​.

show

Display detailed information about one or more packages, including version, size, description, license, and repository information​.

list-depends

List all packages that the specified package depends on​. Use the --recursive flag to list dependencies of the entire chain​.

list-requiring

List packages that depend on or require the specified package​.

what-provides

Find and list packages that provide a given capability, shared library, or file path​.

files

Display a list of all files contained in the specified package​.

list-updates

List all available package updates for installed software​.

show-update

Display detailed information about a specific update, including changelog entries, security advisories, and other update metadata​.

resolve

Resolve package names or identifiers to their package state, showing whether they are installed, available, or unavailable​.

organization

Display available package filters (such as installed, available, newest), groups (such as system, development, graphics), and categories that can be used to query packages​.

show-os-upgrade

Check for and display information about available operating system or distribution upgrades, such as upgrades to a newer OS release​.

last-time

Show the elapsed time since the last transaction of a specified role occurred, such as the last package update or cache refresh​.

refresh

Refresh the local package metadata cache by downloading the latest package information from configured repositories​. This should be run before checking for updates or searching for new packages​.

install

Install one or more packages by name, or install local package files if a path is provided instead of a package name​.

remove

Remove one or more installed packages from the system​. This may also remove dependent packages if they are no longer needed​. Use with the --autoremove option to clean up unused packages as well​.

update

Install available updates for all installed packages on the system, or for specific packages if specified as arguments​.

upgrade

Perform a system upgrade to newer package versions or a new distribution release​. This may involve major version updates and significant changes​.

download

Download package files to the local system without installing them​. This is useful for offline installation or package inspection​.

offline-update

Prepare, trigger, cancel, or inspect offline system updates​. Offline updates are applied during system boot before the desktop environment starts, allowing critical system packages to be updated safely​.

install-sig

Install a cryptographic signature for a package to verify its authenticity and integrity​.

repair

Attempt to automatically repair problems with the package management system, such as broken dependencies, corrupted databases, or interrupted transactions​.

quit

Request the PackageKit daemon to terminate gracefully after completing any ongoing operations​. The daemon will restart automatically when needed​.

repo-list

Display a list of all configured software repositories, showing their identifiers, descriptions, and enabled/disabled status​.

repo-enable

Enable a previously disabled repository, allowing packages from that repository to be installed and updated​.

repo-disable

Disable a repository, preventing packages from that source from being installed or updated while keeping the repository configuration​.

repo-remove

Completely remove a repository from the system configuration​. This is permanent and the repository will need to be re-added if needed later​. Takes a repository-ID as parameter​.

monitor

Monitor and display real-time PackageKit transaction events and status changes on the bus​. This is useful for debugging or observing package management activity​.

Use pkgcli COMMAND --help for detailed usage information including supported options and arguments for each command​.

The following exit codes are used by pkgcli:

0

The command completed successfully​.

1

A non-specific error occurred​.

2

Invalid syntax or command-line options were supplied​.

3

Insufficient permissions to perform the requested operation​.

4

Required information or packages could not be found​.

5

The transaction failed​.

Additional exit codes may be used for more specific failure conditions by individual commands​.

NO_COLOR

When set to any non-empty value, disables colored output, equivalent to passing --no-color​.

Search for packages related to text editors

Search only in package names

Show detailed information about a package

Install a package non-interactively

List all installed packages

Check for available updates

List dependencies of a package

Find which package provides the AV1 GStreamer codec

appstreamcli(1), and the PackageKit documentation at https://www.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/​.

Matthias Klumpp <​matthias@tenstral​.net​>

Richard Hughes <​richard@hughsie​.com​>

Copyright © 2012-2026 Matthias Klumpp

appstreamcli(1).