The question is pretty simple
Every time I try to install some application the packet manager forces me to download ~2gb updates before installing my application
what can I do?
Do your updates on a regular basis to avoid such big update. But I suppose if you don’t want to do that, I would look for another distro that doesn’t update as much. Debian stable is about as conservative as it gets.
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Whenever you install a package (and its dependencies), you always use its latest version.
The package manager wants you to update everything, so you don’t end up with a partial update, which is not supported.
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This is exactly correct, and I would argue that “in principle” you should follow the same guidance with PKGBUILDs from the AUR.
To add to @maycne.sonahoz’s point: When you attempt to only “install” a single package, you’re pulling in the latest available version of this specific package from the repository. It’s not uncommon for the latest available version of a package to also require (or at least work best with) the latest available libraries from the repository.
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Do you understand the concept of a Rolling Release operating system? You NEED to update the system when there is an update.
Now there are possibilities (from terminal, pacman, is one possibility, there are others) to not update the system when installing a package but as said, you’ll be in partial upgrade state and it could work for a basic package, but it could also break the system depending on what it installs.
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On another note when updating or just adding a piece of software I always use the terminal. Trying to do the later through the Pamac GUI doesn’t always work, where as doing it through terminal rarely fails. Pamac, Octopi, and other GUI’s are great for seeing what updates are available, and what versions of a particular program you’re interested in installing but in my book that’s the extent of their use.
Using a rolling release means continuos updates.
This also means - only one version of any given library at a time - which when a heavily used library like glibc is updated as a dependency of one application - then the others may fail miserably - this is called a partial sync - and such system can be a nightmare to recover.
Especially on stable branch it is important to fully sync your system as the updates comes in batches every 2-4 weeks.
If you want to avoid these big chunks once a month you should switch to testing or unstable - this will provide the updates on a more frequent base - thus smaller portions.
sudo pacman-mirrors -aB unstable --continent && sudo pacman -Syyu
The tradeoffs are neglible in my opinion. I came from Arch so unstable branch it is for me and the unstable nomen is not valid for the packages coming from Arch repos.
You are not correct but
exaggeration promotes understanding
If you frequently sync your system - it does not. Imagine you have synced your system and then you decide to install htop - then it will install htop - done.
Warnings aside - the simple method is - open your terminal
sudo pacman -S <pkgname>
Disable the update-notifier and setup a schedule that suits your workflow where you set aside the time needed to fully sync your system.
When you get to know your systems inner workings you will learn which apps can be installed without syncing your system or if it requires a full system sync.
Can you post, which updates want the system to be installed ?