# How to suppress Pkg messages?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [November 27, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776 "2023-11-27T01:52:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PetrKryslUCSD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petrkryslucsd/32/215825_2.png) [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/1 "2023-11-27T01:52:05Z")

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```julia
pkrysl@BlackCube MINGW64 /d/BoneShaker.jl (main)                                                                                
$ julia --quiet                                                                                                                 
   Resolving package versions...                                                                                                
  No Changes to `D:\SublimeJulia-1.9\assets\.julia-1.9.3-depot\environments\v1.9\Project.toml`                                  
  No Changes to `D:\SublimeJulia-1.9\assets\.julia-1.9.3-depot\environments\v1.9\Manifest.toml`                                 
   Resolving package versions...                                                                                                
  No Changes to `D:\SublimeJulia-1.9\assets\.julia-1.9.3-depot\environments\v1.9\Project.toml`                                  
  No Changes to `D:\SublimeJulia-1.9\assets\.julia-1.9.3-depot\environments\v1.9\Manifest.toml`                                 
  Activating project at `D:\BoneShaker.jl`                                                                                      
julia> 

```

Is it possible to make Julia “real quiet”?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ericphanson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ericphanson/32/215186_2.png) [@ericphanson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ericphanson)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/2 "2023-11-27T03:00:56Z")

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Use the `io` keyword argument, like `Pkg.activate(“.”; io=devnull)`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tecosaur](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tecosaur/32/23206_2.png) [@tecosaur](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tecosaur)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/3 "2023-11-27T04:01:57Z")

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I’ve almost used this myself, but doesn’t this also mean that errors won’t be displayed?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/4 "2023-11-27T08:52:24Z")

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```julia
julia> Pkg.add("NonExisting"; io=devnull)
ERROR: The following package names could not be resolved:
 * NonExisting (not found in project, manifest or registry)
   Suggestions: NonconvexMetaheuristics NonconvexMultistart
Stacktrace:

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tecosaur](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tecosaur/32/23206_2.png) [@tecosaur](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tecosaur)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 9:06am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/5 "2023-11-27T09:06:37Z")

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So `io` is really `stdio` by the looks of it? It would be nice if the `Pkg` docstrings actually said something about `io`, IIRC most don’t even mention its existence.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fredrikekre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/fredrikekre/32/1688_2.png) [@fredrikekre](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/fredrikekre)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 10:07am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-suppress-pkg-messages/106776/6 "2023-11-27T10:07:33Z")

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By default `io` is `stderr` for all commands except `Pkg.status` where it is `stdout`, IIRC. This is only used for any Pkg-internal IO: in the example above `Pkg.add` throws an error, and the REPL frontend chooses to print this to `stderr`.