[BUG] AutoUpdater calls pacman on Ubuntu, launching Pacman game instead

Bug Report: AutoUpdater calls pacman on Ubuntu, launching Pacman game instead

Summary

Claude Code's AutoUpdater attempts to detect installation method by calling pacman -Qo on all Linux systems, including Ubuntu/Debian. On Ubuntu systems with the pacman game installed, this launches the terminal-based Pacman game for ~5 seconds during startup instead of querying package information.

Environment

• Claude Code Version: 2.1.20
• OS: Ubuntu (Linux 6.8.0-90-generic)
• Installation Method: Native installer
• Package with game: pacman game package (/usr/games/pacman)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Code using the native installer on Ubuntu
2. Have the pacman game installed: sudo apt install pacman
3. Launch Claude Code: claude
4. Observe Pacman game briefly launches and exits during startup

Expected Behavior

• On Debian/Ubuntu systems, Claude Code should use dpkg -S or dpkg-query to query package ownership
• No games or unrelated binaries should be executed during startup
• Package manager detection should be OS-aware

Actual Behavior

• AutoUpdater calls pacman -Qo /home/user/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.20
• Since Ubuntu uses apt/dpkg (not Arch's pacman), /usr/bin/pacman doesn't exist
• Shell finds /usr/games/pacman (the game) in PATH instead
• Pacman game launches briefly and exits

Root Cause

From debug logs (claude --debug):

2026-01-27T20:27:22.846Z [DEBUG] AutoUpdaterWrapper: Installation type: native
2026-01-27T20:27:24.536Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.20
2026-01-27T20:27:24.537Z [DEBUG] Found 2.1.20 at /home/user/.local/bin/claude, skipping install

Process monitoring shows:

1412820 1412218 pacman -Qo /home/user/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.20

Where PID 1412218 is the claude process.

The AutoUpdater is hardcoded to call pacman -Qo regardless of the Linux distribution.

Evidence

Process timeline during startup:

[01:57:16.898] Superpowers session-start hook executed
[01:57:17.488] pacman -Qo spawned by claude process
[01:57:17.488] ripgrep initialization
[01:57:17.488] statusline script execution

PATH resolution:

$ type pacman
pacman is /usr/games/pacman

$ which pacman
/usr/games/pacman

Suggested Fix

The AutoUpdater should detect the OS/distribution before attempting package queries:

# Detect package manager based on OS
if command -v dpkg &> /dev/null; then
    # Debian/Ubuntu
    dpkg -S /path/to/binary
elif command -v rpm &> /dev/null; then
    # RHEL/Fedora
    rpm -qf /path/to/binary
elif command -v pacman &> /dev/null && [ -f /etc/arch-release ]; then
    # Arch Linux (verify it's actually Arch)
    pacman -Qo /path/to/binary
fi

Or use absolute paths:

/usr/bin/pacman -Qo /path/to/binary  # Not /usr/games/pacman

Workaround

Users can remove the conflicting game:

sudo apt remove pacman

Or create a shell alias to prevent the game from running:

alias pacman='echo "pacman not available on this system"'

Related Issues

• #13243 - Feature request for system package manager support
• #15910 - Similar issue where KDE kcalc (Calculator) launches (wrong binary being executed)

Additional Context

This issue affects any Ubuntu/Debian user who has the pacman game installed (which is in the default Ubuntu repositories). The AutoUpdater should be distribution-aware when querying package information.

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Impact: Medium - Causes confusion and minor startup delay, but doesn't break functionality
Frequency: Every Claude Code startup on affected systems
Platform: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian with pacman game installed)