Packages not in AUR

Support AUR
1

Is it safe to delete those?
Packages not in AUR: ipw2100-fw ipw2200-fw js60 js68 js78 libopenaptx manjaro-documentation-en manjaro-firmware menda-circle-icon-theme-git mhwd-nvidia-340xx software-center-web-jak systemd-fsck-silent

I mean how do I make sure those aren’t being used by other packages?
Is there a way to back it up before removing with -Rn?

2

Hi @phelgm,

The best way to check is ask pacman/pamac to show you the orphans. Then you can see if they’re being used or not.

To list the orphans, run:

pamac list --orphans

There is also the chance of removing the orphans:

pamac remove --orphans

There are obviously pacman commands as well, but I’m not familiar with them.

Hope this helps!

1 Like
3

With

pacman -Qdt

you can list the orphaned packages. In 99% they can be removed, safely.

Pacman command to remove them:

sudo pacman -Rsn $(pacman -Qqdt)
3 Likes
4

A small addition: from the list above, i would only worry about the wifi drivers, check with inxi like shown here.
Another easy check: boot a recent iso image and see if wifi works. Maybe it got into kernel, that driver. You can also search here, but i find it a bit user unfriendly this search

Generally, for a hardware 10-15 or more years old, i do not think a rolling distribution like arch or manjaro is very suitable, and definitely not with latest kernel.

5

It looks safe to remove does package

You can run sudo pacman -Rc mhwd-nvidia-340xx to see what dependency would go with it. Or check more information with sudo pacman -Si mhwd-nvidia-340xx so you would see it’s not even a thing anymore.

If you are afraid to lose an important package like: mhwd
add it to your HoldPkg in /etc/pacman.conf' like:

HoldPkg = pacman glibc manjaro-system mhwd

make sure you always have mhwd on Manjaro and a Linux Kernel

And for clean-up action, it is the same as sudo pacman -Rc visualize the packages that would remove before execute.
For that, you can use once a wail in special after some big updates:

orphans remover 
orphans() {
    # sudo pacman -Sy
    orphans_="$(sudo pacman -Qtd)"
    if [[ -n "${orphans_}" ]]; then
        sudo pacman -Qqtd | sudo pacman -Rns - || true
    else
        sudo pacman -Qtdv
        echo -e "\n no orphans to remove"
    fi
}

in your .zshrc

6

Thanks for the replies.
But these aren’t just orphaned packages, these are packages that were installed on manjaro systems at some point in time, and then were removed from the AUR and the repos.
With no changelog suggesting their removal.
Even the output yay is different from pamac list -o

7

pacman -Qi <package> | grep 'Required'

8

Yes

ipw2100-fw
ipw2200-fw 
js60 
js68 
js78 
libopenaptx 
manjaro-documentation-en 
manjaro-firmware 
menda-circle-icon-theme-git
mhwd-nvidia-340xx 
software-center-web-jak 
systemd-fsck-silent

Copy the folder /var/cache/pacman/pkg to an usb device using your favorite file manager.

That may be - at some point - they may have been removed because they were not needed or superseeded or the they were packages from Arch Repo which were dropped to AUR.

There could be a lot of reasons for that to happen.

But when it happens or you find out it has happened - then it is your responsibility as system administrator handle that situation.

In this case ipw packages relate to early intel centrino wireless or other intel wireless which is no longer supported.

If you system does not rely on those they can be removed but you would be the only one to know this.

Removal of packages is a local decision by the system administrator whether that is you or your brother-in-law but it has be done only if you know your system does not rely on them - it is technically possible if the system has the devices supported by those drivers.