How to update packages from AUR?

dnx · 2013-07-31 13:31:47

Hello,

How do I know there's an update for the packages installed via AUR, is there some way to update the same way as the packages from the official repo?

WorMzy · 2013-07-31 13:37:20

You can use an AUR helper: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR_helper

karol · 2013-07-31 14:16:31

A special kind of packages are the vcs ones e.g. foo-git, where the PKGBUILD doesn't get updated, but there may be new code in the upstream git repo.

ANOKNUSA · 2013-07-31 15:05:41

Bear in mind as well that, in the case of more complex helpers like yaourt and its ilk, they usually recieve updates a few days behind Pacman updates. This means that, every time Pacman receives a major update, yaourt, etc. may not be fully functional for at least a day or two. And as karol said, none of them (that I know of) automatically update VCS packages.

karol · 2013-07-31 15:41:52

packer can rebuild VCS packages when you pass '--devel' switch, but I don't know if it checks if there's any new upstream development or just goes "oh, it's a git package, let's rebuild it".
According to a comment by x33a https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/packer/ it doesn't work with just pkgver().

cfr · 2013-07-31 23:23:57

Note that there are two questions here:

dnx wrote:

How do I know there's an update for the packages installed via AUR, is there some way to update the same way as the packages from the official repo?

The first is: is there a way to know?
-> This is not difficult for "regular" packages (as opposed to -git etc.). I have a script run periodically which checks for updates to both official and AUR packages and notifies me of anything new. I would have no idea how to add git etc. [The script isn't mine - I just adapted it from bits and pieces.]

The other is: is there a way to update in the same way that official packages are updated?
-> Yes (subject to the qualifications above).

You didn't ask a third question: should AUR packages be updated automatically in the same way as official ones, assuming it is possible?
-> I think the answer is no as it seems to me an unnecessary security risk. Somebody new could have taken over a package, for example, with malicious intent or they might just be less competent etc. If I don't look for changes in the PKGBUILD etc. then I have no way of doing even the most basic sanity check. (I'm not knowledgeable enough to do more than this but I hope I would notice if there was suddenly an install script which would remove /home, say.]
-> Lots of people would vehemently disagree with me on this.

EDIT: There are especially good reasons to avoid tools which update official and AUR packages in the same way and at the same time since this blurs the distinction and tends to lead to a poorer understanding of the system which can cause headaches (and worse) when major updates occur.

Last edited by cfr (2013-07-31 23:25:27)

ANOKNUSA · 2013-08-01 16:14:13

karol wrote:

packer can rebuild VCS packages when you pass '--devel' switch, but I don't know if it checks if there's any new upstream development or just goes "oh, it's a git package, let's rebuild it".
According to a comment by x33a https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/packer/ it doesn't work with just pkgver().

Didn't know that. But it always seems strange to rebuild a -git, -svn, -hg, etc. package without glancing over the changelog and bug trackers first.

dnx · 2013-08-01 22:44:05

I didn't thought about that security issue. Well a script that notifies when one of my packages from the AUR gets updated can be useful, I will look into that.
Thank you very much for the answers!

ijskegel · 2013-08-02 06:22:17

May I suggest cower for this. It is an excelent AUR helper. See this forum page for more info.

sultanoswing · 2013-08-02 10:29:30

I'm not exactly sure this is what the OP is asking for, but I use:

yaourt -Syua

...of course you have to install yaourt first

qinohe · 2013-08-02 11:03:45

@sultanoswing,
This is without a doubt gonna work, but check ANOKNUSA's post #4.

Personally, I like to keep things separated, only use pacman for official repo's.

Yaourt, only gets used for aur packs, with this command;

 yaourt -Sbu --aur

Awebb · 2013-08-02 11:18:04

ijskegel wrote:

May I suggest cower for this. It is an excelent AUR helper. See this forum page for more info.

I would like to second this.

There is a certain controversy among us Arch users concerning AUR helpers. Some think, that using tools like yaourt is perfectly fine, others say, that using such tools will rip you off essential knowledge needed to fix problems as they arise. Another problem with those helpers is, that the more features they have, the worse and the longer they will break, should the pacman api change. Yaourt is a special case, it is so deeply woven into pacman, that it basically broke every second pacman update during the time I used it.

I suggest you first try to think of a model describing how to update packages, without actually implementing it yourself. Make sure you understand, what happens in the AUR and how this is different from the usual repositories. Then start by using a low-impact helper like cower. Cower allows you to search the AUR, download packages (and dependencies), see a list of updated PKGBUILD's and/or download them on the spot.

karol · 2013-08-02 11:20:51

Awebb wrote:

ijskegel wrote:
May I suggest cower for this. It is an excelent AUR helper. See this forum page for more info.
I would like to second this.

+1

See also https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=148896

qinohe · 2013-08-02 12:48:39

karol wrote:

Awebb wrote:
ijskegel wrote:
May I suggest cower for this. It is an excelent AUR helper. See this forum page for more info.
I would like to second this.
+1

See also https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=148896

If after my reply, you all come with cower, maybe I should try this as well;)

Trilby · 2013-08-02 12:58:06

I used yaourt for a while early on, but was never too happy with it, and really didn't like that I had no idea what it was doing. It was all "magic" behind the curtain. For a little while I went to the opposite extreme and had my own bash functions that used only wget and makepkg. Then I started using cower - it is simple but effective, and does just what I was working on getting my bash functions to do, but it does it much better. I do still wrap cower in my own ~5 line bash function which is functually not much more than an alias.

And cower should be kept in sync with pacman as it's written by a pacman developer!

Last edited by Trilby (2013-08-02 12:58:18)

karol · 2013-08-02 13:22:15

cower is pretty flexible https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 9#p1306999 while yaourt is rather monolithic.
I also use expac - pacman database extraction utility - for the few packages that have not yet been dropped to the AUR ;P

qinohe · 2013-08-02 14:01:01

Thanks for your reply Trilby. First, I only used the manual way of installing, but decided it needed some automation, and used packer. I must say, 'without any problems' until 2013-01-26 glibc and filesystem update. After that I tried to install some things, and had issues. Stepped over to yaourt, and been running it since, also without glitches or problems. You say, you had no idea what it was doing, why? it still has output we can read right, and I still had a feeling of full control over the package.
I already installed cower, and will try it out in the days to come, I recently stepped over to i3, nice to implement this 'low on resources' feature with it.
BTW. thanks for your switch layout script

qinohe · 2013-08-02 14:04:44

@karol, replying and skyping at the same time, and it takes half an our to write this short post;)
Thanks for the explanation, I will read and try your suggestions later.

sorry for the double post:(

Last edited by qinohe (2013-08-02 14:06:30)

Trilby · 2013-08-02 14:39:32

qinohe wrote:

You say, you had no idea what [yaourt] was doing, why? it still has output we can read right, and I still had a feeling of full control over the package.

To clarify I should temper my description with the fact that I took up yaourt long before I should have. I had never learned how the aur worked. Yaourt doesn't really *prevent* a user from knowing what it is doing, but it does make it very easy for a new user to not bother learning what is happening - which is where I was with it. It worked great when it worked. When it didn't, it was simply "broken" - I could see no farther than that. Other tools require a bit more knowledge from the user, so the user can then - at the very least - elaborate what the problem is when there is a problem.

So in short, the flaw is not yaourt, but was in me as the user ... though yaourt did allow that flaw to happily continue.

With this in mind, yaourt's tendency to lag behind pacman updates can be seen as a feature. It wasn't until I was completely unable to use yaourt that I actually learned how the AUR really works.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-08-02 14:42:57)

qinohe · 2013-08-02 15:34:16

Yes, I understand you now. Well I think it is good for every user to start the manual way of installing packages from AUR, in fact I still use it. Installed cower the manual way.
Only when a starter, and every body owned that status once, understands what is going on, I would only suggest to try a AUR helper. Thanks.

ANOKNUSA · 2013-08-03 16:37:23

Since this has quickly turned into one of those threads, let me throw a couple things in. Here's one prominent user's opinion, which I agree with:

AUR Helpers: Or, “Why you should uninstall Yaourt and embrace makepkg…”

And here's a relevant shopping list thread.

Personally, I use cower, with "alias pacup='sudo pacman -Syu && cower -uv'" in my shell config. Cower will check for updates to my AUR packages, and leave it up to me to download, build and install them.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-07-31 13:31:47

How to update packages from AUR?

#2 2013-07-31 13:37:20

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#3 2013-07-31 14:16:31

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#4 2013-07-31 15:05:41

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#5 2013-07-31 15:41:52

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#6 2013-07-31 23:23:57

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#7 2013-08-01 16:14:13

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#8 2013-08-01 22:44:05

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#9 2013-08-02 06:22:17

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#10 2013-08-02 10:29:30

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#11 2013-08-02 11:03:45

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#12 2013-08-02 11:18:04

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#13 2013-08-02 11:20:51

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#14 2013-08-02 12:48:39

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#15 2013-08-02 12:58:06

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#16 2013-08-02 13:22:15

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#17 2013-08-02 14:01:01

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#18 2013-08-02 14:04:44

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#19 2013-08-02 14:39:32

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#20 2013-08-02 15:34:16

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

#21 2013-08-03 16:37:23

Re: How to update packages from AUR?

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