yay Usage Guide

| Categories ArchLinux  | Tags yay  ArchLinux  linux 

🐧 Powerful Package Management on Arch Linux: Complete yay Guide

yay (Yet Another Yaourt) is one of the most popular AUR helpers on Arch Linux and its derivatives (like Manjaro). It allows you to easily manage packages from both official repositories and the AUR (Arch User Repository), supporting searching, installing, upgrading, downgrading, and path inspection—all in one tool.

This guide walks you through everything from basic to advanced usage, including installation, common commands, downgrade methods, and file path viewing—perfect for both beginners and advanced users.

📦 1. What is yay?

yay is a modern AUR helper written in Go. Its main features include:

  • Unified search and install from official and AUR sources.
  • Auto-upgrade for both official and AUR packages.
  • Support for downgrading to older versions.
  • Quick access to package info, dependencies, install paths, etc.
  • Easy cache cleanup and orphan package removal.

Compared to traditional tools like yaourt, yay is faster, safer, and more suitable for daily package management.

⚙️ 2. How to Install yay

✅ 1. For Manjaro Users

sudo pacman -S yay

✅ 2. For Arch Linux Users (Manual Method)

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
cd /tmp
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

🚀 3. yay Command Quick Reference

Feature Command
Search (official + AUR) yay package_name
Install a package yay -S package_name
Upgrade all packages (AUR) yay -Syu
Clean cache yay -Sc
Remove unused dependencies yay -Yc
Remove package & config yay -Rns package_name
Install only AUR package yay -S package_name --aur
Install only repo package yay -S package_name --repo
View package info yay -Si package_name
View package file paths yay -Ql package_name
Find package owning a file yay -Qo /path/to/file
List installed AUR packages yay -Qm

⬇️ 4. How to Downgrade a Package

Sometimes new versions are unstable or incompatible. You can roll back using the following methods:

✅ 1. Using downgrade Tool (Recommended)

yay -S downgrade
sudo downgrade package_name
  • Lists historical versions for selection.
  • Supports adding to IgnorePkg to prevent future upgrades.

✅ 2. Install a Versioned AUR Package

Some AUR packages include specific versions:

yay -S electron14

✅ 3. Install from Local Cache

ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ | grep package_name
sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/xxx.pkg.tar.zst

✅ 4. Download from Arch Archive

If you never installed it before:

👉 https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/

Example:

# e.g., nginx
wget https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/n/nginx/nginx-1.24.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
sudo pacman -U nginx-1.24.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Don’t forget to prevent upgrades afterward: Edit /etc/pacman.conf and add:

IgnorePkg = nginx

🔍 5. View Installed Package Information

✅ 1. View Detailed Info

yay -Qi package_name

✅ 2. View All Installed Files

yay -Ql package_name

Example:

yay -Ql google-chrome

Output:

google-chrome /opt/google/chrome/
google-chrome /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable
...

✅ 3. View Top-Level Install Directories Only

yay -Ql package_name | cut -d' ' -f2 | cut -d'/' -f1-3 | sort -u

Example:

yay -Ql nginx | cut -d' ' -f2 | cut -d'/' -f1-3 | sort -u

Output:

/etc/nginx
/usr/bin
/usr/lib

✅ 4. Find Which Package Owns a File

yay -Qo /usr/bin/nginx

Or using pacman directly:

pacman -Qo /usr/lib/libssl.so.3

🧹 6. System Cleanup

✅ Clean Build Cache

yay -Sc

✅ Remove Unused Dependencies

yay -Yc

🧠 7. Extra Tips

✅ List All AUR Packages (Non-official)

yay -Qm

✅ List All Installed Packages

yay -Q

✍️ 8. Summary: Must-Know yay Tricks

Feature Example Command
Search yay firefox
Install AUR package yay -S visual-studio-code-bin
Downgrade package sudo downgrade nginx
View install paths yay -Ql package_name
File → package yay -Qo /path/to/file
Clean system yay -Sc && yay -Yc

📎 Appendix

< Docker Getting Started Guide Install Arch Linux >

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