Synchronize a whitelist of packages on an Arch Linux system

pacsync

#!/bin/bash
#
# (c) 2024, Tremeschin, MIT License
#
# pacsync - Synchronize a whitelist of packages on an Arch Linux system
#
# This scripts remove all non-related and non-dependencies of a package list, acting like a lock
# mechanism to match the system with a list of allowed packages, 'pacman.lock' vibes
#
# Usage: Add this file to your PATH or as a bash function, then run:
#     pacsync package1 package2 package3 ...
#     pacsync /path/to/packages-list
#
# Dangers:
# - Be sure to list essential packages like 'systemd, linux, base-devel, pacman, sudo', etc
# - I'm not sure if there's side effects of marking all packages "asdeps", but running the
#   "remove orphans" command becomes unsafe if you don't list all packages you want to keep
#
function pacsync() {
    yay=$(command -v yay || command -v paru)

    if [[ -z $yay ]]; then
        echo "Error: yay or paru not found in PATH"
        return 1
    fi

    # If first argument is a file, read packages from it
    if [[ -f $1 ]]; then
        set -- $(<"$1")
    fi

    # Set all packages install reason to 'dependency'
    $yay -D --asdeps $($yay -Qq) > /dev/null

    # Set all packages passed as arguments to 'explicit';
    # The package might be a group on the failure of the first
    for package in "$@"; do
        $yay -D --asexplicit $package > /dev/null 2>&1 || \
        $yay -D --asexplicit $($yay -Qgq $package) > /dev/null 2>&1
    done

    # Remove orphans, that is, all unwanted :)
    $yay -Qdtq | $yay -Rns -

    # Install all wanted packages
    $yay -Syu --needed "$@"
}

pacsync "$@"