Void XBPS¶

ID: xbps
Home page: https://github.com/void-linux/xbps
Version requirement: >= 0.59
Platforms: 🐧 Linux
Operations: installed · outdated · orphans · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync · cleanup · doctor
purl types: pkg:xbps
CLI name: xbps-install
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: xbps
Source: meta_package_manager/managers/xbps.py

X Binary Package System used by Void Linux.

Note

XBPS is split across several sibling binaries: xbps-query for read-only operations, xbps-install for installs, sync and upgrades, and xbps-remove for uninstalls and cache cleanup. mpm resolves the siblings from the same directory as cli_path.

What `mpm` adds to `xbps`¶

Through mpm, xbps gains --exact and --extended search, to narrow to exact names or match descriptions.

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover xbps alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your `xbps` commands, in `mpm`¶

You already know xbps: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With `xbps`	With `mpm`
List what’s installed	`xbps-query --list-pkgs`	`mpm --xbps installed`
List outdated packages	`xbps-install --update --dry-run`	`mpm --xbps outdated`
Search for a package	`xbps-query --repository --search firefox`	`mpm --xbps search firefox`
Install a package	`sudo xbps-install --yes firefox`	`mpm install pkg:xbps/firefox`
Upgrade one package	`sudo xbps-install --update --yes firefox`	`mpm --xbps upgrade firefox`
Upgrade everything	`sudo xbps-install --sync --update --yes`	`mpm --xbps upgrade --all`
Remove a package	`sudo xbps-remove --yes firefox`	`mpm remove pkg:xbps/firefox`
List orphaned dependencies	`xbps-query --list-orphans`	`mpm --xbps orphans`
Clear caches	`sudo xbps-remove --clean-cache --yes`	`mpm --xbps cleanup --cache`
Run health checks	`xbps-pkgdb --all`	`mpm --xbps doctor`

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations¶

Operation	Supported	Notes
`installed`	✓
`outdated`	✓
`orphans`	✓
`search`	✓	exact and extended search backfilled by `mpm`
`install`	✓
`upgrade`	✓
`upgrade_all`	✓
`remove`	✓	`--orphans` also drops the package’s orphaned dependencies
`sync`	✓
`cleanup`	✓	`--orphans` runs the system-wide orphan sweep
`doctor`	✓

Selecting and configuring `xbps`¶

Deselect xbps for a single run with --no-xbps, or persist the choice in your configuration:

[mpm]
xbps = false

Keep it enabled but tune how mpm drives it with a per-manager override:

[mpm.managers.xbps]
timeout = 900

mpm config-template xbps prints every overridable attribute as a ready-to-paste block.

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around xbps, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --xbps dump xbps.toml, then mpm restore xbps.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --xbps sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).
Gate CI on health: mpm --xbps doctor relays Void XBPS’s own diagnosis and exits non-zero on trouble.

Privilege escalation¶

System-wide manager: mpm wraps its privileged operations in sudo out of the box. Instead of letting the tool prompt mid-run, mpm primes the credential cache up-front, with a single branded password prompt at most. Turn escalation off for rootless setups with --no-sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

State of Void XBPS’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

Registry: Distro binary archives (pkg:deb, pkg:rpm, pkg:alpm, pkg:apk)
Retraction: Index revert: removal is an archive operation and the mirror is rebuilt without the package. Debian, for one, requires filing an RM: bug against ftp.debian.org (developers-reference)
Publish date: ❌ the version string is the distro maintainer’s build, carrying no upstream publication date

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --allow-unsupported-managers opts back in.

Version probe¶

The version is extracted from the output of xbps-install --version with:

r"(?P<version>\S+)"

Reference traces¶

Raw native outputs captured in the manager source: the reference mpm’s parsers were written against. If you know Void XBPS well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ xbps-query --list-pkgs
ii base-files-0.144_1            Void Linux base system files
ii cmark-gfm-0.29.0.gfm.13_1     CommonMark parsing and rendering library
ii curl-8.5.0_1                  Command line tool for transferring data

$ xbps-install --update --dry-run
firefox-120.0_1 update x86_64 https://repo-default.voidlinux.org/current 45MB 12MB
python3-3.11.6_2 update x86_64 https://repo-default.voidlinux.org/current 30MB 8MB

$ xbps-query --list-orphans
libglvnd-1.7.0_1
orc-0.4.34_1

Feed any of these through mpm and the raw output becomes one uniform table, the same shape for every manager: filter it, project columns, or export it (mpm --xbps installed --output json, or csv, toml, yaml), each package carrying a purl and a version comparable across managers.

Changelog¶

7.4.0 (2026-07-25)
- Plain cleanup no longer removes orphaned packages: their native sweeps moved behind cleanup --orphans. This also stops emerge’s cleanup from triggering its pre-depclean world upgrade unless --orphans is given.
- remove no longer cascades to orphaned dependencies by default: a plain removal keeps them. Use the new remove --orphans to restore the previous behavior.
6.4.0 (2026-04-27)
- Add XBPS (Void Linux) package manager with installed, outdated, search, install, upgrade, remove, sync, and cleanup support.