---
name: "alpm-package-group"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "alpm-docs"
version: "0.13.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/alpm-package-group"
---

# alpm-package-group(7)

package grouping for ALPM based packages.

## NAME

package group - package grouping for ALPM based packages.

## DESCRIPTION

**Package groups** describe arbitrary grouping for ALPM based packages. They are used in build scripts or file formats for package metadata (e.g. in **PKGBUILD**, **PKGINFO** or **SRCINFO**) to describe the groups a package belongs to. **Package groups** can be used for a number of reasons (e.g. “a group of all providers of a feature”, “a group of all text editors”) and no specific guidelines exist. Software such as package managers can rely on **package groups** to list grouped packages and install as well as uninstall them in bulk.

The value is represented by a UTF-8 string (e.g. `my-group` or `my-other-group`). Although it is possible to use a UTF-8 string, it is recommended limit the value to the **alpm-package-name** format. Package managers may use a **package group** to install an entire group of packages and group names containing special characters or whitespaces may be confusing to users.

### Visibility of groups

**Package groups** solely exist as package metadata and any package can be in zero or more of them. In the context of package management, **package groups** represent identifiers, that are visible across available package repositories, as they are defined by their members.

### Caveats when relying on groups for installation

**Package groups** can be used by package managers to bulk install all ALPM based packages that are currently members of a given group. Although in effect similar to **meta packages** when it comes to the bulk installation of packages, **package groups** are not **package relations** and are solely defined as a grouping mechanism! When further packages are added to a given group, this does not result in them being installed automatically, as package management software merely evaluates the members of a group during a given installation action. Aside from reinstalling all members of a group, there is no mechanism to stay in sync with the current members of a **package group**.

## EXAMPLES

The following **PKGBUILD** example defines a package that belongs to the group `my-group`. Note that the created package carries the group name in its metadata (see **PKGINFO** for details).

```
pkgname=group-example
pkgver=0.1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="A package example"
arch=(any)
url="https://archlinux.org"
license=('GPL-3.0-or-later')
groups=(my-group)
depends=(bash)
package() {
  install -vdm 755 "$pkgdir/usr/share/doc/$pkgname/"
  touch "$pkgdir/usr/share/doc/$pkgname/test.txt"
}
```

## SEE ALSO

[**PKGBUILD**(5)](/PKGBUILD/5.md), [**PKGINFO**(5)](/PKGINFO/5.md), [**alpm-meta-package**(7)](/alpm-meta-package/7.md), [**alpm-package-name**(7)](/alpm-package-name/7.md), [**alpm-package-relation**(7)](/alpm-package-relation/7.md)