AUR search tools - pacopts - cower - package-query - yay

banned_9-26-2021

Goodbye Yaourt https://archlinux.fr/yaourt-en finally arch people killed it.

pacopts uses cower to search download and install packages from AUR, but the exact format of pacopts commands and options are not very well documented and it is very peculiar in what it does as root and what it doesn't do as root, as 2 mutually exclusive groups of functions. Personally I don't understand why you can not run search as root. In any case, I think for the particular purpose the documentation of cower should have been merged into it.

 pacopts -z aur -s package-query

Since Arch-people seem to have condemned yaourt (the old favorite, tool of choice for AUR, WAS still available through archlinux.fr https://archlinux.fr/yaourt-en in the fall of 2020 but no more - I am glad I cloned the source) yaourt has remained famous for its search functionality.

yaourt package query

gave you much more functionality than pacopts or cower.

So, what is package-query ?
Package query is the part of yaourt that gives it its search functionality fame. Yay, which I dislike, I found it had a nice default feature, it ordered AUR search hits by popularity, leaving untried less scrutinized packages with less visibility. So how does package query produce the same or similar output with yay while also listing instaled packages separately and also show the size of installed packages and with color?

package-query -AQSs --rsort w --show-size package-query
local/package-query 1.11-1 [0.07 M]
    Query ALPM and AUR
aur/package-query-git 1.10.r0.gab3f6a1-1 (149) (0.72)
    Query ALPM and AUR
aur/package-query 1.11-1 [installed] (1162) (3.08)
    Query ALPM and AUR

The -rsort option can be modified by votes or by number of downloads reflecting popularity in two ways.
But it is a long command to memorize and use for every time you search, so you can create a shortcut in your shell ....rc to abbreviate the syntax. Since I hate yay and wouldn't install the crap, I call my shortcut yay and this is my shortcut/alias in .zshrc

alias yay='f(){package-query -AQSs --rsort w --show-size $@ ;unset -f f;};f'

yay package query

gives me the same output as above

cower -d package-query
cd package-query
makepkg
sudo pacman -U package-query*.xz

then create the above alias/shortcut for the search and you can search AUR I believe in a more effective way than cower or pacopts.

banned_9-26-2021

On the first example you simply have 2 packages that are in conflict with each other and must remove one of them.
On the second you need to add the gpg key for the author (if you trust him) and that allows you to build the pkg:

gpg --recv-keys CFDF148828C642A7

All those AUR helpers do about the same thing, the issues that relate to security that ARCH people talk vaguely to condemn one and promote another relate to the fact that root should not be building packages in Arch, only a user should (there are good reasons for this .... for one a user can read libraries but can not change them, when you are executing code to compile a package you can't be reading the entire code to verify that nothing modifies your libraries) and that user can not "install" a package without root priviledges.

You have several branches of an aur helper.
1 Search for the package (PKGBUILD) file that you need.
2 Download the PKGBUILD, which is a recipe for cloning the source
3 Downloading the source git clone https;//......git.../pkgname-pkgversion
4 Building the package to become pacman compatible (prescribed by PKGBUILD) "makepkg"
5 Use pacman -U to install the package that was built.

makepkg is part of pacman, it is what builds pacman packages.

So it doesn't matter what tools you use, the outcome is the same. If you believe that yay builds packages differently than yaourt or cower or pacopts you are a fool that has fallen for Arch propaganda, as far as I am concerned.

yaourt (last version from a few months ago) as a package was 120K
package-query 1.11 is 28K
yay is 2,2M
cower is 27K
pacopts is 8.9K (which has other functionality internal to Obarun )
pamac is about 525K probably 700K + together with its gui and appindicator

So yay is way too big for the little it does.

Arch was meant to be a KIS/KISS distribution, ever since the systemd adoption it has been deviating more and more from that commitment.

negative

fungal_net wroteOn the first example you simply have 2 packages that are in conflict with each other and must remove one of them.
On the second you need to add the gpg key for the author (if you trust him) and that allows you to build the pkg:
gpg --recv-keys CFDF148828C642A7
All those AUR helpers do about the same thing, the issues that relate to security that ARCH people talk vaguely to condemn one and promote another relate to the fact that root should not be building packages in Arch, only a user should (there are good reasons for this .... for one a user can read libraries but can not change them, when you are executing code to compile a package you can't be reading the entire code to verify that nothing modifies your libraries) and that user can not "install" a package without root priviledges.

You have several branches of an aur helper.
1 Search for the package (PKGBUILD) file that you need.
2 Download the PKGBUILD, which is a recipe for cloning the source
3 Downloading the source git clone https;//......git.../pkgname-pkgversion
4 Building the package to become pacman compatible (prescribed by PKGBUILD) "makepkg"
5 Use pacman -U to install the package that was built.

makepkg is part of pacman, it is what builds pacman packages.

So it doesn't matter what tools you use, the outcome is the same. If you believe that yay builds packages differently than yaourt or cower or pacopts you are a fool that has fallen for Arch propaganda, as far as I am concerned.

yaourt (last version from a few months ago) as a package was 120K
package-query 1.11 is 28K
yay is 2,2M
cower is 27K
pacopts is 8.9K (which has other functionality internal to Obarun )
pamac is about 525K probably 700K + together with its gui and appindicator

So yay is way too big for the little it does.

Arch was meant to be a KIS/KISS distribution, ever since the systemd adoption it has been deviating more and more from that commitment.

your reply seems to think im as stupid as someone recently posted here in forums.

banned_9-26-2021

negative wroteyour reply seems to think im as stupid as someone recently posted here in forums.

I have no idea what you mean

negative

fungal_net wrote
negative wroteyour reply seems to think im as stupid as someone recently posted here in forums.
I have no idea what you mean

you can delete posts, im sure you can undelete them as well, you'll see what initially posted. in any case, i dont care and regretted reposting after i said i'll leave. if only i can delete my account as well..

banned_9-26-2021

I still don't understand, what posts you mean. Is there something on this post that offended you?
We can all delete our posts, but I don't know how to undelete even my own, let alone someone else's.
I am sure you can go to your profile and delete/remove your account, I have no reason to do so.

Still wondering what it is you are referring to, whether I have offended you in some way and didn't realize it, but you appear "to me" being a little mysterious.

I made this post offering to share what I believe is a useful trick, and now it is turning to a soap opera.

eric

By the way, pacopts need to be revamped entirely...