cache22-changelog

cache22-changelog shows the package-level diff between the booted deployment and any staged update.

Synopsis

cache22-changelog [--check]

Flag	Effect
(none)	Print the full diff. Requires sudo (reads pacman databases under `/sysroot`).
`--check`	Silent. Exit 0 if a staged update exists, 1 if not. Used by login banners.

Examples

Inspect what would change

sudo cache22-changelog

Example output:

==========================================================
  cache22 update pending - reboot to apply

  Booted: ghcr.io/cmspam/cache22-cachy-server:rolling
  Staged: ghcr.io/cmspam/cache22-cachy-server:rolling

  Package changes (37):
    upgraded  linux-cachyos                             7.0.5-1 -> 7.1.0-1
    upgraded  linux-cachyos-headers                     7.0.5-1 -> 7.1.0-1
    upgraded  linux-cachyos-nvidia-open                 7.0.5-1 -> 7.1.0-1
    upgraded  systemd                                   258.4-1 -> 258.5-1
    added     btop                                      1.4.0-1
    removed   nano-syntax-highlighting                  3.5-1

  Reboot:    sudo cache22-reboot     (full reboot, or kexec if configured)
  Cancel:    sudo bootc rollback
==========================================================

cache22-changelog --check && echo "update pending"

Returns exit 0 when a staged deploy exists, 1 otherwise. No output is produced. Used by /etc/profile.d/cache22-pending-reboot.sh to decide whether to show the login banner.

What it shows

For the booted and staged deploys, cache22-changelog reads the pacman package database under each deploy’s root and produces a three-way diff:

added. Packages present in the staged deploy but not in the booted deploy.
removed. Packages in the booted but removed in the staged.
upgraded. Packages present in both with different versions.

The lists are name-sorted within each category. Counts are shown in the header.

The image references and image timestamps for booted and staged are also included in the output.

Where the data comes from

cache22 relocates pacman state to /usr/lib/sysimage/pacman/local/ (instead of /var/lib/pacman as on stock Arch). For each deploy, the database lives at:

/sysroot/ostree/deploy/<state>/deploy/<csum>.<idx>/usr/lib/sysimage/pacman/local/

cache22-changelog walks both the booted and staged deploy directories, parses each package’s directory name (the standard pacman format <name>-<version>-<release>), and emits the diff.

The diff is purely informational. It does not list configuration changes, file additions outside packages, or kernel parameter changes. To see those, compare deploy /etc directories or build artifacts manually.

Common workflows

Decide whether to apply now or wait

sudo cache22-update
sudo cache22-changelog                 # Look at what would change.
sudo cache22-reboot                    # Apply when ready.
# Or:
sudo bootc rollback                    # Cancel (drops the staged deploy).

Inspect before an autoreboot fires

If cache22-autoreboot is configured for 04:00 and the user is awake at 22:00 the previous night with a staged update pending:

sudo cache22-changelog

If the change looks fine, do nothing; the timer will reboot at 04:00. If something looks problematic, sudo bootc rollback cancels the staged deploy. (Note: rollback in this context drops the staged deploy. To go back to the previously-booted image after applying an update, run rollback after the reboot, then reboot again.)

Use in scripts

if cache22-changelog --check; then
    echo "Update available, see: sudo cache22-changelog"
fi

The silent check is suitable for use in MOTD scripts, shell rc files, or monitoring scripts.