AUR helpers: Difference between revisions
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! Name !! Written in !! Pacman wrapper !! File review !! Clean build !! Reliable parser !! Reliable solver !! Split packages !! Git clone !! Diff view !! Batch interaction || Shell completion !! Specificity | ! Name !! Written in !! Pacman wrapper !! File review !! Clean build !! Reliable parser !! Reliable solver !! Split packages !! Git clone !! Diff view !! Batch interaction || Shell completion !! Specificity | ||
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! {{AUR|aurutils}} | ! {{AUR|aurutils}} |
Revision as of 16:05, 21 August 2018
AUR helpers automate certain tasks for using the Arch User Repository. Most helpers automate the process of retrieving a package's PKGBUILD from the AUR and building the package. In most cases packages installed from the AUR are not checked for updates by pacman; thus some helpers check the AUR for updates and automate the re-build process. However, keep in mind that a rebuild of an AUR package, or any other packages built and installed locally, may be required when shared libraries are updated, not just when the package is updated.
Since AUR helpers are unsupported, they are not present in the official repositories.
Build and search
The columns have the following meaning:
- File review: does not source the PKGBUILD at all by default; or, alerts the user and offers the opportunity to inspect the PKGBUILD manually before it is sourced. Some helpers are known to source PKGBUILDs before the user can inspect them, allowing malicious code to be executed. Optional means that there is a command line flag or configuration option to prevent the automatic sourcing before viewing.
- Clean build: does not export new variables that can prevent a successful build process.
- Pacman wrapper: when used as replacement for pacman(8) commands such as
pacman -Syu
, the following are obeyed by default: [1]
- – do not separate commands, for example
pacman -Syu
is not split topacman -Sy
andpacman -S packages
; - – use pacman directly instead of manual database manipulation or usage of libalpm(3).
- In addition, potentially harmful commands such as
pacman -Ud
,pacman -Rdd
,pacman --ask
orpacman --force
are not used. - Warning: Notwithstanding these criteria, AUR helpers may deviate from pacman(8) in various ways, in particular for installation of packages in the official repositories. Such usage is therefore not supported or recommended.
- Reliable parser: ability to handle complex packages by using the provided metadata (RPC/.SRCINFO) instead of PKGBUILD parsing, such as aws-cli-gitAUR.
- Reliable solver: ability to correctly solve and build complex dependency chains, such as ros-lunar-desktopAUR.
- Split packages: ability to correctly build and install:
- – Multiple packages from the same package base, without rebuilding or reinstalling multiple times, such as clionAUR
- – Split packages which depend on a package from the same package base, such as libc++AUR and libc++abiAUR.
- – Split packages independently, such as python-pyalsaaudioAUR and python2-pyalsaaudioAUR.
- Git clone: uses git-clone(1) by default to retrieve build files from the AUR.
- Diff view: ability to view package differences on inspection. Besides the PKGBUILD, this includes changes to files such as
.install
or.patch
files. - Batch interaction: ability to prompt in direct succession, in particular for:
- Inspection of PKGBUILDs;
- Summarizing package upgrades;
- Resolution of package conflicts and installations.
- An asterisk denotes functionality specifically enabled by the user.
- Shell completion: tab completion is available for the listed shells.
- Table rows are sorted by column values, where Yes or N/A take precedence over Partial or Optional and No, or alphabetically if values are equal.
- Optional means that a feature is available, but only through a command-line argument or configuration option. Partial means that a feature is not fully implemented, or that it partially deviates from the given criteria.
Active
Name | Written in | Pacman wrapper | File review | Clean build | Reliable parser | Reliable solver | Split packages | Git clone | Diff view | Batch interaction | Shell completion | Specificity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
aurutilsAUR | Bash/C | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 | zsh | vifm, local repository, package signing, clean chroot support, sort by votes/popularity |
yayAUR | Go | compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1, 2*, 3* | bash, fish, zsh | fetch PGP keys, sort by votes/popularity, prompt architecture |
pakkuAUR | Nim | splits -Syu |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 | bash, zsh | ABS support, AUR comments, fetch PGP keys |
pikaurAUR | Python | splits -Syu |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1, 2, 3 | bash, fish, zsh | dynamic users, multilingual, sort by votes/popularity, print news, ignore errors |
trizenAUR | Perl | compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | 1* | bash, zsh, fish | Automatic builds by default, use -G to disable, AUR comments
|
bauerbillAUR | Python | compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | bash, zsh | Trust management, ABS support, extends Powerpill |
PKGBUILDerAUR | Python | compliant | Optional | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | 1* | – | Automatic builds by default, use -F to disable; multilingual
|
naamanAUR | Python | – | Optional | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | No | 1* | bash | Automatic builds by default, use --fetch to disable, use -d to enable the solver
|
auraAUR | Haskell | compliant | Optional | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Partial | 1* | bash, zsh | Automatic builds by default, use --dryrun to disable, downgrade support, multilingual
|
repofishAUR | Bash | – | Optional | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | 1* | – | Automatic builds by default, use check or update to disable, local repository support
|
aurgetAUR | Bash | – | Optional | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | – | bash, zsh | sort by votes |
Search-only
Name | Written in | File review | Reliable parser | Reliable solver | Git clone | Shell completion | Specificity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pbgetAUR | Python | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | – | – |
yaahAUR | Bash | Yes | Yes | – | Optional | bash | – |
auracle-gitAUR | C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | – | print build order |
cowerAUR | C | Yes | Yes | – | No | bash, zsh | regex support, sort by votes/popularity |
package-queryAUR | C | Yes | No [2] | – | – | – | – |
repoctlAUR | Go | Yes | Yes [3] | – | No | zsh | local repository support |
Discontinued or problematic
This table describes projects which either are discontinued by their authors, or have issues on Security, Clean build or Native pacman (see #Build and search) unaddressed in the last 6 months.
Name | Written in | Pacman wrapper | File review | Clean build | Reliable parser | Reliable solver | Split packages | Git clone | Diff view | Batch interaction | Shell completion | Specificity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
aurelAUR [4] | Emacs Lisp | – | Yes | – | – | – | – | No | – | – | – | Emacs integration, no automatic builds |
pacaurAUR [5] | Bash/C | uses -Ud |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1, 3 | bash, zsh | multilingual, sort by votes/popularity |
wrapaurAUR | Bash | compliant | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | – | – | Mirror updates, print news and AUR comments |
spinachAUR [6] | Bash | – | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | – | – | – |
burgaurAUR [7] | Python/C | – | Optional | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | – | – | Wrapper for cower |
packer-aur-gitAUR | Bash | compliant | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | – | – | – |
yaourtAUR | Bash/C | splits -Syu |
No [8] [9] | No | No | No | No | Optional | Optional | 2 | bash, zsh, fish | Backup (modifies pacman database!), ABS support, print AUR comments, multilingual |
Graphical
- Graphical AUR helpers are typically aimed at Arch-based distributions. Their use in Arch Linux may lead to a defective system, for example through unattended partial upgrades.
- If a helper has known problematic behavior, it is colored with a red entry.
Name | Written in | GUI toolkit | Backend helper | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
aarchupAUR | C | GTK+ 2 | auracle | – |
argonAUR | Python | GTK+ 3 | auracle, pacaur | – |
cylonAUR | Bash | TUI | auracle, trizen | – |
kaluAUR | C | GTK+ 3 | – | – |
pactrayAUR | Python | GTK+3 | auracle | – |
pamac-aurAUR | Vala | GTK+ 3 | – | Uses libalpm(3) instead of pacman(8) |
pakku-guiAUR | Python | GTK+ 3 | pakku | – |
pkgbrowserAUR | Python | Qt 5 | – | – |
updatehintAUR | Bash | GTK+ 3 | auracle | – |
octopiAUR | C++ | Qt 5 | trizen, pacaur, yaourt | enabled on install notifier service regularly performs partial upgrades |
Libraries
- haskell-archlinux — Library to access the AUR and package metadata from the Haskell programming language.
- python3-aur — Python 3 modules for accessing AUR package information and automating AUR interactions.
Maintenance
- aur-out-of-date — Uses hoster APIs to check AUR packages for upstream changes.
- pkgbuild-watch — Looks for changes on the upstream web pages.
- pkgbuildup — Helps AUR package maintainers automatically update PKGBUILD files. Supports a template variable syntax.
- pkgoutofdate — Parses the source URL from PKGBUILDs and tries to find new versions of packages by incrementing the version number and sending requests to the web server.
Uploading
- aur4_import.sh — Splits a package from a git repository with multiple packages, adding/updating
.SRCINFO
for every commit - aur4_make_submodule.sh — Replaces a package in a bigger git repository with an AUR 4 submodule, including
.SRCINFO
- aurpublish — Helper script to manage and upload AUR packages using git-subtree(1). Uses githooks(5) to verify the PKGBUILD integrity, generate .SRCINFO automatically, and create a commit message template.