Package manifests

A manifest records which packages should be present or absent. Pacvamp compares those declarations with pacman's installed database. It does not remove every undeclared package or pin every repository package to an exact version.

Declare a package

pacvamp add helix
pacvamp status

add writes the user manifest and converges the named packages immediately. Other declarations wait for apply. To edit declarations without installing, edit the TOML directly, then run plan.

The user file is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pacvamp/pacvamp.toml, or ~/.config/pacvamp/pacvamp.toml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset:

[packages]
helix = {}
google-chrome = { source = "aur" }
libreoffice-fresh = { state = "absent" }
nvidia-580xx-utils = { hold = true }

These are examples, not a recommended package set. An absent declaration requests removal. A hold prevents upgrades; it does not capture an exact version. An AUR source selects the AUR explicitly but does not approve its recipe commit.

Preview and apply

pacvamp plan
pacvamp plan --json
pacvamp apply --dry-run
pacvamp apply

plan reports required installs and removals, including which file declared each package. With --detailed-exitcode, it returns 2 for differences and 0 for no differences; errors remain failures. apply performs the declared changes after confirmation. It is not a substitute for update.

Declaration changes are immediate

add --dry-run and drop --dry-run still write the user manifest. They only preview the subsequent package transaction. Use plan to inspect existing declarations without editing them.

Layers and removal

Pacvamp reads these files from lowest to highest precedence:

1. /etc/pacvamp/pacvamp.toml
2. /etc/pacvamp/conf.d/*.toml, sorted by filename
3. The invoking user's pacvamp.toml

For a package name, the last declaration replaces the earlier declaration. Mandatory policy is applied separately; see configuration.

pacvamp drop helix deletes the user declaration and removes the installed package only if no lower layer still declares it present. Dropping a user choice therefore restores the distro's default. To explicitly override a lower-layer package with an absent declaration, use pacvamp add --absent helix.

Run user declarations as the intended login user. sudo pacvamp add selects the root invocation's configuration rather than maintaining your ordinary user's choices.

Manifest, lockfile, and ledger

File	Purpose
pacvamp.toml	Desired packages and configuration
pacvamp.lock, beside the user manifest	Reviewed AUR commits and acknowledged review evidence
/var/lib/pacvamp/state.json	Root-owned transaction history and accepted package evidence

Copying a manifest and lockfile preserves declarations and reviewed recipe commits. It does not reproduce every installed byte or authenticate a binary already on the second machine. Import previews declarations for existing packages; recovery handles interrupted ledger updates.