Arch Linux @lemmy.ml kixik @lemmy.ml 3w ago

Dependency cycle on Arch (btw)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21673875

Cross posting so that the OP realizes this community is alive. I have no issues with qemu, which is installed on my system with no issues.

Posting here as there doesn't seem to be an active Arch Linux community.

I noticed while updating my system today that I have a bunch of qemu packages I don't recall installing. So I took a look at why they were there and found this:
Name            : qemu-base
Required By     : qemu-desktop
Install Reason  : Installed as a dependency for another package

Name            : qemu-desktop
Required By     : None
Optional For    : qemu-base
Install Reason  : Installed as a dependency for another package
It seems like qemu-desktop was a dependency for something I later removed and pulled in qemu-base. However, because of the dependency cycle, they aren't showing up as orphans and has just been hanging around in my system along with 150mb of other dependencies.

Correct?

Edit: Adding clarification on why this was cross posted, and no I'm not the OP.

2 comments

That is mostly correct, although this is not a true cycle, since you can find packages that are strictly optional depencies, i.e. not a hard requirement for anything.
I don't see any cycle here, qemu-deskyop needs qemu-base and that's it.

I think you meant that qemu-desktop is orphan.

EDIT: I am back on my pc so I can share a magic command to clean your orhpan packages (stares at electron) -> sudo pacman -Qdtq | sudo pacman -Rn -