The release of Pacman 7.0, the package manager utilized by Arch Linux, occurred in mid-July. As of now, it is accessible as an update in the Arch stable repository.

The latest major edition introduces a range of new functionalities, one of which involves enabling support for downloading packages as a distinct user with restricted privileges.

While this progress boosts security measures, users with local repositories may need to take manual actions to guarantee smooth functionality. Here is a breakdown of the necessary steps.

For individuals using local repositories, the new download user may lack the essential access permissions to the repository files, which could impede the correct downloading of packages.

To resolve this situation, it is crucial to assign the repository files and directories to the “alpm” group and confirm that the executable bit (“+x”) is activated on the relevant directories.

During the upgrade to Pacman 7.0, the group (and user) are automatically established. Following the terminal prompts, you will encounter the following notifications:

:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) upgrading pacman       [
warning: /etc/makepkg.conf.d/rust.conf installed as /etc/makepkg.conf.d/rust.conf.pacnew
warning: /etc/pacman.conf installed as /etc/pacman.conf.pacnew
New optional dependencies for pacman
    base-devel: required to use makepkg [installed]
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Creating system user accounts...
Creating group 'alpm' with GID 946.
Creating user 'alpm' (Arch Linux Package Management) with UID 946 and GID 946.

To address this, you can execute the following command:

sudo chown :alpm -R /path/to/local/repo

By applying this command, the group ownership of the local repository files shifts to the “alpm” group, facilitating the Pacman’s download user’s appropriate access.

Moreover, make sure to integrate any “.pacnew” files generated during the update. These files feature new default configurations introduced with Pacman 7.0. Merging them ensures the most recent settings are in use and helps prevent potential conflicts.

You can utilize the “diff” command to easily compare the discrepancies between the two files:

diff --color /etc/pacman.conf /etc/pacman.conf.pacnew

Additionally, Pacman 7.0 implements alterations to heighten checksum stability for Git repositories utilizing “.gitattributes” files.

Subsequently, adjustments might be necessary in your “PKGBUILD” files to update the checksums deriving from Git repositories. This modification is a one-time requirement to adapt to the new checksum calculation method.

As a precaution, if you utilize “yay” for AUR package installations, note that post-upgrading to Pacman 7.0, an error message may appear when attempting to utilize it:

yay: error while loading shared libraries: libalpm.so.14: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Not to worry – just recompiling it should rectify the issue swiftly.

For comprehensive guidance on all things related to the Pacman package manager, we strongly recommend visiting our elaborate guide solely focusing on its application.

Finally, for those not using local repositories, merging the “.pacnew” files is the only necessity. The official Arch announcement regarding this matter can be found here.