How to find package usage in Arch Linux?

Question

So after installing my out-of-the-box arch system I decided to remove some of the packages which I don't need. If I am not mistaken, in Windows you can go to Add/Remove Programs and get the info of the program's usage.

Is there a command to get the usage data about a specific package and the related programs?

P.S. I know, it might sound like premature optimization or micro optimization which is the source of all evil but still I'd like to keep my system as clean as possible. Also, this is not about cleaning pacman's cache.

@user236012 no, you did not. What I want to find out is the last usage timestamp of a program/package. — sitilge, Oct 27 '16 at 10:12
@user236012 In practice the last usage of an executable is its access time, and that is tracked (except on old-but-not-ancient Linux). — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Oct 27 '16 at 23:20
after having answered your question, could you then perform it on archiso profiles? — Scrooge McDuck, Jun 01 '22 at 17:58

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 27 '16 at 10:14

2

pacman -Q will list all installed programs.

pacman -Q [package name] will list if the particular program is installed in your system.

Since you want to mass-remove many packages, the easiest way of doing it is installing pamac-aur which is a graphical interface of pacman and aur. Using this you will be able to pick as many installed packages as you want and to remove them with one click. You can find pamac-aur here. This is the closest equivalent of Windows' Add/Remove Programs.

In order to install AUR packages you need to follow the official Arch Wiki about AUR.

answered Oct 27 '16 at 10:14

Aventinus

285

2

thank you, but this was not the question. What I want to find out is the last usage timestamp of a program/package. – sitilge Oct 27 '16 at 10:22
1

then you have to clarify your question. – user236012 Oct 27 '16 at 10:31

How to find package usage in Arch Linux?

1 Answers1