Ace — Arch Linux Compatible Package Manager

A drop-in replacement for pacman written in V. Supports all standard subcommands (-Q, -R, -S, -U, -D, -T, -F) with matching flags and behaviour, plus post-transaction hooks, GPG keyring management, a coloured crimson UI, dependency tree, transaction history, and one-shot migration from pacman.

Features

Area	What
Drop-in compatible	Same CLI flags, same DB format, same pacman.conf
Full install/remove	Archive extraction, file tracking, dependency resolution
Post-transaction hooks	Runs ALPM hooks after install/remove (initramfs, font cache, etc.)
GPG keyring management	--keyring-init / --keyring-populate — native keyring setup
Crimson UI	Coloured output — headings, packages, versions, errors
Progress bar	[##########] 47% (158/335) during extraction
Dependency tree	--deptree zsh — recursive tree with arch, reason, version satisfaction, opt/build deps
Transaction history	--history reads the log with coloured markers
All optional deps	--all-optional installs every optional dependency (also during -Su)
One-shot migration	--transfer copies pacman data into ace's native directories
Dual-DB mode	--pacman shares pacman's local database; native mode uses /var/lib/ace/

Quick Start

# Build
make build                         # requires V 0.5.2+, libzstd, gpgme

# Migrate from pacman (optional — one-time)
doas ./ace --transfer              # copies local DB, sync DBs, cache, config

# Use natively after transfer
doas ./ace -Syu                    # full system upgrade
doas ./ace -S neovim               # install a package
doas ./ace -R neovim               # remove a package

# Or share pacman's database
doas ./ace --pacman -S fish        # uses /var/lib/pacman/local/ directly
doas ./ace --pacman -R fish

Subcommands

Flag	Operation	Key Flags
-Q	Query local DB	-Qi info, -Ql file list, -Qs search, -Qo file owner, -Qk check, -Qu upgrades, -Qn/-Qm native/foreign, -Qp query package file, -Qc changelog
-S	Sync / install	-Sy refresh, -Ss search, -Su upgrade, -Sc clean cache
-R	Remove	-Rs recursive, -Rc cascade, -Rn nosave, --print dry-run
-U	Upgrade from file	--asdeps, --asexplicit, --needed, -w download-only
-D	Database ops	-Dk check, --asdeps, --asexplicit
-T	Dependency test	-T glibc "python>=3.10"
-F	File search	-Fl list, -Fy refresh, -Fx regex

Ace-Specific Flags

Flag	Description
--pacman	Use pacman-compatible paths (/var/lib/pacman/, /etc/pacman.conf)
--transfer	Migrate all pacman data to ace native directories (requires root)
--keyring-init	Initialize a fresh GPG keyring
--keyring-populate <name>	Import keys from a keyring package
--all-optional	Install all optional dependencies (also works during -Su)
--libs	Check library-level deps with caching for speed
--extreme-libs	Cross-reference with ldconfig, always fresh for accuracy
--needed	Skip reinstalling packages already at the same version
--parallel=N	Set concurrent download streams (default: 3, overrides config)
--sysupgrade	Long form of -Su — upgrade all packages
--search	Long form of -Ss — search sync databases
--ignoregroup <group>	Ignore a package group during upgrades
--color <when>	Control colored output: auto, never, always
--noprogressbar	Suppress progress bars
--disable-download-timeout	Disable download timeouts
--disable-sandbox	Disable download sandboxing
--deptree <pkg>	Show recursive dependency tree with version constraints
--history	Show human-readable transaction history
--noconfirm	Skip confirmation prompts
--config <path>	Use alternate config file
--root <path>	Set alternate installation root
--dbpath <path>	Set alternate database path

Migration from Pacman

# One command — safe to run multiple times, never touches pacman's data
doas ace --transfer

# What gets copied:
#   /var/lib/pacman/local/      → /var/lib/ace/local/      (installed packages)
#   /var/lib/pacman/sync/       → /var/lib/ace/sync/       (repository DBs)
#   /etc/pacman.conf            → /etc/ace.conf            (configuration)
#   /var/cache/pacman/pkg/      → /var/cache/ace/pkg/      (package cache)
#   /etc/pacman.d/hooks/        → /etc/ace/hooks/          (alpm hooks)
#   /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/        → /etc/ace/gnupg/          (GPG keyring)
#   /var/log/pacman.log         → /var/log/ace.log         (transaction log)

# After transfer, use ace without --pacman:
doas ace -Syu

Examples

# Search and install
ace -Ss "terminal emulator"       # search repos
doas ace -S alacritty             # install
ace -Qi alacritty                 # show info
ace -Ql alacritty                 # list installed files

# Dependency inspection
ace --deptree zsh                 # recursive tree
ace --deptree firefox             # deep dependency chain
ace -T glibc "python>=3.10"      # check if deps are satisfied

# System maintenance
doas ace -Syu                     # full upgrade
doas ace --sysupgrade             # same as -Su
doas ace -Sc                      # clean package cache
ace -Dk                           # check DB consistency
ace --history                     # view transaction log

# Remove with dependency handling
doas ace -Rs neovim               # remove with unneeded deps
doas ace -Rss firefox             # remove with ALL deps (incl. explicit)
ace -R --print firefox            # dry-run (skips lock+confirm)

# Install with optional deps
doas ace -S fish --all-optional   # installs fish + python, pkgfile, groff, etc.

# Check library-level dependencies during install (cached for speed)
doas ace -S firefox --libs        # fast — uses cache, resolves only new packages

# Cross-reference with system libraries (always fresh)
doas ace -S firefox --extreme-libs  # accurate — always runs ldconfig fresh

# Dry-run removal
ace -R --print firefox            # see what would be removed

Configuration

Ace reads /etc/pacman.conf by default. After --transfer, use --config /etc/ace.conf or rename it. The format matches pacman's INI-style:

[options]
RootDir     = /
DBPath      = /var/lib/ace/
CacheDir    = /var/cache/ace/pkg/
LogFile     = /var/log/ace.log

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Requirements

• V compiler 0.5.2+
• libzstd development headers
• gpgme development headers
• Arch Linux (or derivative)

Build

make build      # compile ace binary
make test       # run all tests (39 test suites)
make fmt        # format source
make clean      # remove binary

License

Ace Public License — a custom copyleft license. See LICENSE for the full terms.

• Ace may be used for any purpose, including proprietary commercial use.
• Ace — whether unmodified or modified — may not be sold.
• Modified versions that are distributed or advertised must be open source under the same license, with corresponding source code publicly available.