--needed flag

[ssgross2509]

would be nice for system restores, backups, etc. pacman has this flag, and only installs if there is a newer version.
I use packer with a list of packages to update a new system with the packages I use on my "parent" build. With --needed flag, I would not have to choose between re-compiling packages that are already up to date (unnecessary re-installs), and sorting through lists of thousands of installed packages trying to recall which ones were new.

[shervinemami]

I use "pacman -S --needed" a lot too, since I am often installing a group of packages based on instructions on a website or document, and the "--needed" flag means I don't waste internet & computer resources downloading & installing the packages that I already have.

[mamiu]

Me too! For now I have to use yaourt for this, but it would be nice if packer would have this flag.