The CachyOS Package Manager

Keeping with its Arch Linux roots, CachyOS uses pacman. You can install a new software package with

sudo pacman install PACKAGE_NAME

or remove a package with

sudo pacman -R PACKAGE_NAME

or search for a package name with

sudo pacman -Ss PACKAGE_NAME

You can also use the CachyOS Package Repository Search [21] to find out information about all of CachyOS's packages. At the time of writing, 37,939 packages were available (a big number for a Linux distribution), but not all of these packages are maintained by CachyOS Developers – the cachyos repository only has 821 packages. Most of the other packages (e.g., the Brave Browser package brave-bin) are rebuilt from the Arch Linux Repository and Arch User Repository (AUR).

CachyOS also supports the following optimized repositories:

• x86-64-v3: Provides a 5-20 percent performance bump compared to x86-64-v2 microarchitecture
• x86-64-v4: Delivers significant performance improvements thanks to the AVX512 instruction set support
• AMD Zen 4/5: In addition to x86-64-v4, it supports AMD CPU instructions and requires AMD hardware for performance improvements

CachyOS uses Arch Linux repositories with lower priorities, but this doesn't work well in reverse. Adding the Cachy OS repositories to Arch Linux can result in package collisions and settings mismatches that can cause problems in Arch Linux systems.

If the package mirror is down or broken, you can use cachyos-rate-mirrors to rank all mirrors by speed and location. The best mirror will be connected first during the next software installation or system update.

CachyOS also offers multiple meta-packages, which contain all the necessary dependencies for a single task, such as a gaming setup or NVIDIA drivers. CachyOS also provides large meta-packages with compilers, so installing any third-party Linux kernel modules with Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) shouldn't be a problem.

Gaming with CachyOS

Many people choose CachyOS to get better performance with their favorite games. Thanks to meta-packages, you can quickly set up an environment to run games, especially those created on Windows platforms. Most Linux-native games work well from digital stores like Steam or GOG. To install all the necessary gaming tools on CachyOS, use

sudo pacman -S cachyos-gaming-meta cachyos-gaming-applications

The cachyos-gaming-applications package contains Steam, Gamescope (a Linux micro-compositor developed by Valve that is recommended for better gaming performance), Heroic Games Launcher, and Lutris. If the standard Proton package doesn't work for a specific game, you can troubleshoot with the gaming guide on the official CachyOS Wiki [22]. This guide covers Proton-GE (a customized version by GloriousEggroll), proton-cachyos-slr (an experimental branch), Proton-CachyOS-8 (a previous version), Wine (the standard version by WineHQ), Wine-CachyOS, and wine-cachyos-opt (patched versions by the CachyOS team).

The CachyOS Handheld Edition [23] (with support for the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go) has installation instructions that are very similar to the standard instructions. The Handheld Edition also offers a SteamOS-like experience with Game Mode Switching and special gaming applications. The Linux kernel on the Handheld Edition uses the LAVD scheduler [24] written in Rust for better optimization with Handheld devices, providing better frame rates and battery life.

Support System

CachyOS has an active development team and community, which means you should be able to find support. If you visit the CachyOS repository [25], you'll find that typically there are more than 100 commits per week, with 52 total contributors and 10 regular contributors who have made more than 30 commits each. CachyOS also has a significant Internet presence, including user reviews on YouTube, as well as official communities on Discord and Telegram. Finally, there is an active community on the CachyOS Forum [26].