Pacman automatic orphaned package removal configuration

Answer – What to do now

On a low‑traffic Arch host you can let pacman delete orphaned packages automatically by combining a small wrapper script with a systemd.timer. The script will:

• list truly orphaned packages with pacman -Qdtq,
• filter out any that are required by an explicitly installed package (including AUR helpers),
• respect a user‑defined whitelist, and
• run pacman -Rns --noconfirm on the remaining list.

The timer can be set to run once a week (or longer) and will only fire after the system has been idle for the interval you choose. Because the script checks the Required By field, libraries that AUR packages depend on will never be removed, even if pacman thinks they are orphaned.

How to build the solution

1. Create a cleanup script (/usr/local/bin/pacman-orphan-cleanup.sh):

   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   set -euo pipefail
   
   # Whitelist of packages that must never be removed
   WHITELIST=(
       # e.g. "libfoo"
   )
   
   # Gather explicit installs (pacman -Qe) – includes AUR helpers
   EXPLICIT=$(pacman -Qe --query-format '%n')
   
   # Get all orphans
   ORPHANS=$(pacman -Qdtq)
   
   # Filter out packages that are required by any explicit install
   for pkg in $ORPHANS; do
       if pacman -Qi "$pkg" | grep -q "Required By: $EXPLICIT"; then
           echo "Skipping $pkg – required by explicit install"
           continue
       fi
       if printf '%s
   ' "${WHITELIST[@]}" | grep -qFx "$pkg"; then
           echo "Skipping $pkg – whitelisted"
           continue
       fi
       echo "Removing $pkg"
       pacman -Rns --noconfirm "$pkg"
   done
   

   Make it executable:

   chmod +x /usr/local/bin/pacman-orphan-cleanup.sh

2. Create a systemd service that runs the script:

   [Unit]
   Description=Pacman orphan cleanup
   
   [Service]
   Type=oneshot
   ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/pacman-orphan-cleanup.sh
   

3. Set up a timer that triggers after a period of inactivity:

   [Unit]
   Description=Run orphan cleanup weekly after idle
   
   [Timer]
   OnCalendar=*-*-* 03:00
   Unit=pacman-orphan-cleanup.service
   
   # Only fire if the machine has been idle for 6 hours
   Persistent=no
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=timers.target
   

   Adjust OnCalendar and add SystemdIdleAction=stop if you need stricter idle detection. The timer will only start if the host has been idle for the interval you set in OnCalendar (here, 3 AM on every day; you can change this to a weekly schedule).

4. Enable the timer:

   systemctl enable --now pacman-orphan-cleanup.timer

5. Verify the dry run:

   pacman -Rns --noconfirm --print --dry-run $(pacman -Qdtq)
   

   Review the output to ensure no needed AUR libraries are listed.

Safeguards to protect AUR libraries

• Explicit install check. AUR helpers (yay, paru, etc.) mark their own packages as explicitly installed, so any library they depend on will show up in pacman -Qe and be excluded by the script.
• Whitelist. Add any manually compiled or vendor‑specific libraries to the WHITELIST array.
• Dry‑run. Always run the script with --dry‑run before enabling it to see what would be removed.
• Audit after first run. Check that all AUR applications still start and that disk space has been reclaimed.

One diagnostic question

To confirm that the script will correctly protect your AUR packages, could you run pacman -Qe and let me know whether all your AUR helpers and any manually compiled packages appear in that list? If any are missing, they will need to be added to the whitelist.