diff -Nuar -uar a/src/pacman/conf.c b/src/pacman/conf.c
--- a/src/pacman/conf.c	2020-06-22 19:33:22.000000000 +1100
+++ b/src/pacman/conf.c	2020-12-24 20:01:21.885850894 +1100
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@
 	alpm_list_free(config->repos);
 
 	FREELIST(oldconfig->holdpkg);
+	FREELIST(oldconfig->syncfirst);
 	FREELIST(oldconfig->ignorepkg);
 	FREELIST(oldconfig->ignoregrp);
 	FREELIST(oldconfig->assumeinstalled);
@@ -598,6 +599,8 @@
 			setrepeatingoption(value, "IgnoreGroup", &(config->ignoregrp));
 		} else if(strcmp(key, "HoldPkg") == 0) {
 			setrepeatingoption(value, "HoldPkg", &(config->holdpkg));
+		} else if(strcmp(key, "SyncFirst") == 0) {
+			setrepeatingoption(value, "SyncFirst", &(config->syncfirst));
 		} else if(strcmp(key, "CacheDir") == 0) {
 			setrepeatingoption(value, "CacheDir", &(config->cachedirs));
 		} else if(strcmp(key, "HookDir") == 0) {
diff -Nuar -uar a/src/pacman/conf.h b/src/pacman/conf.h
--- a/src/pacman/conf.h	2020-06-22 19:33:22.000000000 +1100
+++ b/src/pacman/conf.h	2020-12-24 20:01:38.349183872 +1100
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@
 	/* select -Sc behavior */
 	unsigned short cleanmethod;
 	alpm_list_t *holdpkg;
+	alpm_list_t *syncfirst;
 	alpm_list_t *ignorepkg;
 	alpm_list_t *ignoregrp;
 	alpm_list_t *assumeinstalled;
diff -Nuar -uar a/src/pacman/sync.c b/src/pacman/sync.c
--- a/src/pacman/sync.c	2020-06-22 19:33:22.000000000 +1100
+++ b/src/pacman/sync.c	2020-12-24 20:03:25.629181556 +1100
@@ -540,6 +540,26 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static alpm_list_t *syncfirst(void) {
+	alpm_list_t *i, *res = NULL;
+	alpm_db_t *db_local = alpm_get_localdb(config->handle);
+	alpm_list_t *syncdbs = alpm_get_syncdbs(config->handle);
+
+	for(i = config->syncfirst; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
+		const char *pkgname = i->data;
+		alpm_pkg_t *pkg = alpm_db_get_pkg(db_local, pkgname);
+		if(pkg == NULL) {
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		if(alpm_sync_get_new_version(pkg, syncdbs)) {
+			res = alpm_list_add(res, strdup(pkgname));
+		}
+	}
+
+	return res;
+}
+
 static int process_group(alpm_list_t *dbs, const char *group, int error)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
@@ -945,5 +965,52 @@
 		}
 	}
 
+	/* check for syncfirsts */
+	if(!config->op_s_downloadonly && !config->print) {
+		/* check for newer versions of packages to be upgraded first */
+		alpm_list_t *i, *j, *syncfirsts = syncfirst();
+		if(syncfirsts) {
+			/* Do not ask user if all the -S targets are SyncFirst packages, see FS#15810 */
+			alpm_list_t *targets_diff = alpm_list_diff(targets, syncfirsts, (alpm_list_fn_cmp)strcmp);
+			if(config->op_s_upgrade || targets_diff) {
+				int syncfirst_ret = 1;
+				colon_printf(_("Some packages should be upgraded first...\n"));
+				if(trans_init(0, 1) == 0) {
+					for(i = syncfirsts; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
+						syncfirst_ret = process_targname(alpm_get_syncdbs(config->handle), i->data, 0);
+						if (syncfirst_ret == 1) {
+							break;
+						}
+					}
+				}
+				if (syncfirst_ret == 0) {
+					syncfirst_ret = sync_prepare_execute();
+				} else {
+					trans_release();
+				}
+				if (syncfirst_ret == 0) {
+					/* reinitialize handle to take care of changes */
+					parseconfig(config->configfile);
+					/* remove syncfirsts from targets */
+					alpm_list_t *i = targets;
+					while(i) {
+						for(j = syncfirsts; j; j = alpm_list_next(j)) {
+							if(strcmp(i->data, j->data) == 0) {
+								targets = alpm_list_remove_item(targets, i);
+								break;
+							}
+						}
+						i = i->next;
+					}
+				}
+				printf("\n");
+			} else {
+				pm_printf(ALPM_LOG_DEBUG, "skipping SyncFirst\n");
+			}
+			alpm_list_free(targets_diff);
+			FREELIST(syncfirsts);
+		}
+	}
+
 	return sync_trans(targets);
 }
