Hi @Gabbo,
Manjaro is a curated rolling release. Meaning it gets tested and ironed out before being rolled out as stable. Also, it has 3 branched, Stable, Testing and Unstable, of which Unstable is the closest to Arch Stable.
You can check on Packages for availability of the software you’re looking for and if all else fails, there’s always the AUR. If you’re even more desperate, there’s always debtap.
And, always remember, even though Manjaro has its roots in Arch, always remember that Manjaro != Arch
Otherwise, install and test it in a VM, see if it’s for you without breaking anything. I can tell you, though, that Manjaro is the only OS until now that’s lasted me more than 6 months.
Update, and keep Manjaro updated the Smart way and she’ll give you a lot of love and long service.
Edit:
While I’ve never used it, dpkg is installed and available by default:
Never mind this, what @Yochanan said.
$ dpkg --help
Usage: dpkg [<option>...] <command>
Commands:
-i|--install <.deb file name>... | -R|--recursive <directory>...
--unpack <.deb file name>... | -R|--recursive <directory>...
-A|--record-avail <.deb file name>... | -R|--recursive <directory>...
--configure <package>... | -a|--pending
--triggers-only <package>... | -a|--pending
-r|--remove <package>... | -a|--pending
-P|--purge <package>... | -a|--pending
-V|--verify [<package>...] Verify the integrity of package(s).
--get-selections [<pattern>...] Get list of selections to stdout.
--set-selections Set package selections from stdin.
--clear-selections Deselect every non-essential package.
--update-avail [<Packages-file>] Replace available packages info.
--merge-avail [<Packages-file>] Merge with info from file.
--clear-avail Erase existing available info.
--forget-old-unavail Forget uninstalled unavailable pkgs.
-s|--status [<package>...] Display package status details.
-p|--print-avail [<package>...] Display available version details.
-L|--listfiles <package>... List files 'owned' by package(s).
-l|--list [<pattern>...] List packages concisely.
-S|--search <pattern>... Find package(s) owning file(s).
-C|--audit [<package>...] Check for broken package(s).
--yet-to-unpack Print packages selected for installation.
--predep-package Print pre-dependencies to unpack.
--add-architecture <arch> Add <arch> to the list of architectures.
--remove-architecture <arch> Remove <arch> from the list of architectures.
--print-architecture Print dpkg architecture.
--print-foreign-architectures Print allowed foreign architectures.
--assert-help Show help on assertions.
--assert-<feature> Assert support for the specified feature.
--validate-<thing> <string> Validate a <thing>'s <string>.
--compare-versions <a> <op> <b> Compare version numbers - see below.
--force-help Show help on forcing.
-Dh|--debug=help Show help on debugging.
-?, --help Show this help message.
--version Show the version.
Validatable things: pkgname, archname, trigname, version.
Use dpkg with -b, --build, -c, --contents, -e, --control, -I, --info,
-f, --field, -x, --extract, -X, --vextract, --ctrl-tarfile, --fsys-tarfile
on archives (type dpkg-deb --help).
Options:
--admindir=<directory> Use <directory> instead of /var/lib/dpkg.
--root=<directory> Install on a different root directory.
--instdir=<directory> Change installation dir without changing admin dir.
--pre-invoke=<command> Set a pre-invoke hook.
--post-invoke=<command> Set a post-invoke hook.
--path-exclude=<pattern> Do not install paths which match a shell pattern.
--path-include=<pattern> Re-include a pattern after a previous exclusion.
-O|--selected-only Skip packages not selected for install/upgrade.
-E|--skip-same-version Skip packages whose same version is installed.
-G|--refuse-downgrade Skip packages with earlier version than installed.
-B|--auto-deconfigure Install even if it would break some other package.
--[no-]triggers Skip or force consequential trigger processing.
--verify-format=<format> Verify output format (supported: 'rpm').
--no-pager Disables the use of any pager.
--no-debsig Do not try to verify package signatures.
--no-act|--dry-run|--simulate
Just say what we would do - don't do it.
-D|--debug=<octal> Enable debugging (see -Dhelp or --debug=help).
--status-fd <n> Send status change updates to file descriptor <n>.
--status-logger=<command> Send status change updates to <command>'s stdin.
--log=<filename> Log status changes and actions to <filename>.
--ignore-depends=<package>[,...]
Ignore dependencies involving <package>.
--force-<thing>[,...] Override problems (see --force-help).
--no-force-<thing>[,...] Stop when problems encountered.
--refuse-<thing>[,...] Ditto.
--abort-after <n> Abort after encountering <n> errors.
--robot Use machine-readable output on some commands.
Comparison operators for --compare-versions are:
lt le eq ne ge gt (treat empty version as earlier than any version);
lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl (treat empty version as later than any version);
< << <= = >= >> > (only for compatibility with control file syntax).
Use 'apt' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management.