Hey there, wanna learn something new ?
As you might know, Arch Linux is a rolling release and DIY (do-it-yourself) distribution. So you have to be bit careful while updating it often, especially installing or updating packages from the third party repositories like AUR. You might be end up with broken system if you don't know what you are doing. It is your responsibility to make Arch Linux more stable. However, we all do mistakes. It is difficult to be careful all time. Sometimes, you want to update to most bleeding edge, and you might be stuck with broken packages. Don't panic! In such cases, you can simply rollback to the old stable packages. This short tutorial describes how to downgrade a package in Arch Linux and its variants like EndeavourOS, Manjaro Linux.
In Arch Linux, there is an utility called "downgrade" that helps you to downgrade an installed package to any available older version. This utility will check your local cache and the remote servers (Arch Linux repositories) for the old versions of a required package. You can pick any one of the old stable package from that list and install it.
Install downgrade utility in Arch Linux
This package is not available in the official repositories. You can install it from AUR.
Install downgrade from AUR
The downgrade package is available in AUR, so you can install it using any AUR helper programs such as Paru or Yay.
Using Paru:
Using Yay:
Downgrade a package in Arch Linux
The typical usage of "downgrade" command is:
Let us say you want to downgrade opera web browser to any available old version.
To do so, run:
This command will list all available versions of opera package (both new and old) from your local cache and remote mirror.
Sample output:
Just type the package number of your choice, and hit enter to install it.
That's it. The current installed package will be downgraded to the old version.
Let us know if you used "downgrade" before and/or if it helped...
As you might know, Arch Linux is a rolling release and DIY (do-it-yourself) distribution. So you have to be bit careful while updating it often, especially installing or updating packages from the third party repositories like AUR. You might be end up with broken system if you don't know what you are doing. It is your responsibility to make Arch Linux more stable. However, we all do mistakes. It is difficult to be careful all time. Sometimes, you want to update to most bleeding edge, and you might be stuck with broken packages. Don't panic! In such cases, you can simply rollback to the old stable packages. This short tutorial describes how to downgrade a package in Arch Linux and its variants like EndeavourOS, Manjaro Linux.
In Arch Linux, there is an utility called "downgrade" that helps you to downgrade an installed package to any available older version. This utility will check your local cache and the remote servers (Arch Linux repositories) for the old versions of a required package. You can pick any one of the old stable package from that list and install it.
Install downgrade utility in Arch Linux
This package is not available in the official repositories. You can install it from AUR.
Install downgrade from AUR
The downgrade package is available in AUR, so you can install it using any AUR helper programs such as Paru or Yay.
Using Paru:
$ paru -S downgrade
Using Yay:
$ yay -S downgrade
Downgrade a package in Arch Linux
The typical usage of "downgrade" command is:
$ sudo downgrade [PACKAGE, ...] [-- [PACMAN OPTIONS]]
Let us say you want to downgrade opera web browser to any available old version.
To do so, run:
$ sudo downgrade opera
This command will list all available versions of opera package (both new and old) from your local cache and remote mirror.
Sample output:
Available packages:
1) opera-37.0.2178.43-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (local)
2) opera-37.0.2178.43-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
3) opera-37.0.2178.32-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
4) opera-36.0.2130.65-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
5) opera-36.0.2130.65-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
6) opera-36.0.2130.46-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
7) opera-36.0.2130.46-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
8) opera-36.0.2130.32-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
9) opera-36.0.2130.32-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
10) opera-35.0.2066.92-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
11) opera-35.0.2066.82-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
12) opera-35.0.2066.68-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
13) opera-35.0.2066.37-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
14) opera-34.0.2036.50-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
15) opera-34.0.2036.47-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
16) opera-34.0.2036.25-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
17) opera-33.0.1990.115-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
18) opera-33.0.1990.115-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
19) opera-33.0.1990.58-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
20) opera-32.0.1948.69-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
21) opera-32.0.1948.25-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
22) opera-31.0.1889.174-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
23) opera-31.0.1889.99-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
24) opera-30.0.1835.125-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
25) opera-30.0.1835.88-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
26) opera-30.0.1835.59-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
27) opera-30.0.1835.52-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
28) opera-29.0.1795.60-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
29) opera-29.0.1795.47-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
30) opera-28.0.1750.51-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
31) opera-28.0.1750.48-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
32) opera-28.0.1750.40-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
33) opera-27.0.1689.76-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
34) opera-27.0.1689.69-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
35) opera-27.0.1689.66-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
36) opera-27.0.1689.54-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
37) opera-27.0.1689.54-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
38) opera-26.0.1656.60-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
39) opera-26.0.1656.32-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
40) opera-12.16.1860-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
41) opera-12.16.1860-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz (remote)
select a package by number:
Just type the package number of your choice, and hit enter to install it.
That's it. The current installed package will be downgraded to the old version.
Let us know if you used "downgrade" before and/or if it helped...
~ XeroLinux Toolkit Maintainer ~
I do try to help where I can, when I can.
I do this on my own, so I might not have all the answers.
I do try to help where I can, when I can.
I do this on my own, so I might not have all the answers.