Downloading from the AUR

Kolt Penny · 2013-09-29 03:58:29

I know this is a really simple and basic question but it really drives me crazy.

Trying to install any software from the wiki I always get stopped by this quote: "yoursoftware can be found in the official repositories" and I get really confused.

It's simple by doing it with pacman but I also want to learn how to do it if I can't find something in pacman.

[EDIT] BTW I'm currently running Arch entirely on shell, i don't want to move to a desktop environment until I fully understand the most basic form of Arch.

Last edited by Kolt Penny (2013-09-29 04:00:28)

skunktrader · 2013-09-29 04:04:52

Did you look in the wiki yet?

Kolt Penny · 2013-09-29 04:10:59

Yeah but I get confused on how to exactly get the actual URL where the file is stored.

henk · 2013-09-29 04:34:46

Just above the section of the wiki page skunktrader provided you with
there is a link to the AUR web interface. Ther you have the ability to search for packages in the AUR. This search will guide you to the actual
package page.

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-29 04:43:04

Since you are still in text mode, if you don't have access to another computer, you can view the AUR page in something like links, elinks, lynx, or w3m. Once you learn about how things work and what needs to be downloaded and why, you might want to take a look at cower (which is actually in the AUR), as it allows searching the AUR from the command line, and it can download the source tarball that you use to build the package (and it unpacks it for you in the directory of choice).

As far as not installing a GUI until "fully understanding" the command line, I think you may never actually get to a GUI. Just for the sake of a web browser, it might be wise to install a simple window manager and then try to utilize your terminal of choice as much as possible.

Kolt Penny · 2013-09-29 04:46:15

But is there a code to connect within the shell so I can start navigating?

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-29 05:04:55

Kolt Penny wrote:

But is there a code to connect within the shell so I can start navigating?

I don't really understand what you are asking here.

If the question is now to search through packages in the AUR (which aren't really packages at all, but rather scripts to build said package), then I was suggesting above that you should use a text based browser to do that stuff.

So install a text based browser. The live media has elinks, so that is probably a good choice. Then simply do

$ elinks http://aur.archlinux.org

. It may not look like what you would see in firefox or chromium, but all the necessary text will be there.

Kolt Penny · 2013-09-29 05:08:48

WonderWoofy wrote:

Kolt Penny wrote:
But is there a code to connect within the shell so I can start navigating?
I don't really understand what you are asking here.
If the question is now to search through packages in the AUR (which aren't really packages at all, but rather scripts to build said package), then I was suggesting above that you should use a text based browser to do that stuff.
So install a text based browser. The live media has elinks, so that is probably a good choice. Then simply do
$ elinks http://aur.archlinux.org 
. It may not look like what you would see in firefox or chromium, but all the necessary text will be there.

I guess that's the last thing I can do, btw I have links already, I just wanted to know if it could be done without additional software.

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-29 05:11:52

You have links already, so why not use it?

It can be done, but this means learning how to use curl or wget. I believe you will have to install wget, though curl is a dependency of pacman (it is how it downloads the packages). Both of those tools are pretty complex and certainly not ideal for someone to go about navigating through a package search like the aur.

arcon · 2013-09-29 05:19:18

I guess that's the last thing I can do, btw I have links already, I just wanted to know if it could be done without additional software.

Aren't you talking about yaourt

Kolt Penny · 2013-09-29 05:20:45

WonderWoofy wrote:

It can be done, but this means learning how to use curl or wget. I believe you will have to install wget, though curl is a dependency of pacman (it is how it downloads the packages). Both of those tools are pretty complex and certainly not ideal for someone to go about navigating through a package search like the aur.

True. Thank you very much. Dog pic is awesome.

jasonwryan · 2013-09-29 05:36:20

arcon wrote:

I guess that's the last thing I can do, btw I have links already, I just wanted to know if it could be done without additional software.
Aren't you talking about yaourt

Yaourt is additional, and unnecessary: please don't recommend it to people who have yet to grasp how AUR works...

arcon · 2013-09-29 06:30:47

Alright, if not yaourt & if it is not solved then:

i) You need to search the desired package.

ii) Then you need to download that package(or i say tarball containing PKGBUILD file) via curl.

iii) Remeber to install base-devel package.

iv) Build the package.

v) Install the package.

Hope it helps!!

EDIT: base-devel is a package group(having some packages for development purposes) don't confuse it as a package.

Last edited by arcon (2013-09-29 06:40:44)

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-29 07:24:06

arcon wrote:

Alright, if not yaourt & if it is not solved then:
i) You need to search the desired package.
ii) Then you need to download that package(or i say tarball containing PKGBUILD file) via curl.
iii) Remeber to install base-devel package.
iv) Build the package.
v) Install the package.
Hope it helps!!
EDIT: base-devel is a package group(having some packages for development purposes) don't confuse it as a package.

This is the type of thing that users are encouraged to learn on their own. These forums are not about spoon feeding answers to users, but rather helping them solve their own problems by offering guidance and clues to where the problem might be.

This case is particularly one where it is expected that the user will find info on their own with a nudge in the right direction, as this information is in the wiki. Not only that, but the second post directed Kolt Penny to the right place.

This type of thing may be helpful in the short term, but does nothing to help a new user strike out on their own with the confidence to solve their own problems.

jdarnold · 2013-09-29 15:01:41

Well, I disagree. As the OP has already been pointed to the wiki page and obviously still has questions, I think we need to probe further to see what is confusing. A careful, short, terse step by step and then see what is still confusing, seems to be the right approach. arcon did a nice job of pointing to the correct place for each of the steps.

Now, the OP should tell us if it helps and, if it does, what the wiki does wrong that didn't help. Or ask more questions about each step.

karol · 2013-09-29 15:17:04

'Newbie Corner' doesn't mean 'we will hand-hold you every step of the way'.

Trilby · 2013-09-29 15:51:41

For a while I just used wget and makepkg (in a bash function):

 wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/<first_two_letters_of_pkg_name>/<pkg>/<pkg>.tar.gz
 tar -xzf <pkg>.tar.gz
 cd <pkg>
 makepkg -si

Searching takes a bit more, but to download build and install, that is all that is needed.

edit: darn bbcode mangling fake-urls - added code tags.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-09-29 15:53:58)

Xyne · 2013-09-29 16:29:01

If you really want to do all of this via curl, use the RPC interface.

progandy · 2013-09-29 17:05:10

Searching takes a bit more, but to download build and install, that is all that is needed.

I would suggest cower (in the AUR) to search and download AUR packages. Basically it gives a nicely formatted output for the RPC interface, uses curl to download and can compare the installed version number to the current AUR version.

On a fresh install I start using the AUR with something like this:

mkdir /tmp/cower && cd /tmp/cower && curl https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/co/cower/PKGBUILD > PKGBUILD && makepkg -si
cower -s ...
cower -d ...
makepkg -si

Last edited by progandy (2013-09-29 17:10:31)

Jellicent · 2013-09-29 18:12:42

Download the tarball with whatever method you have at your disposal , look at PKGBUILD (it might come in handy), build it, install it.
That's basically what I do every time.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-09-29 03:58:29

Downloading from the AUR

#2 2013-09-29 04:04:52

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#3 2013-09-29 04:10:59

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#4 2013-09-29 04:34:46

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#5 2013-09-29 04:43:04

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#6 2013-09-29 04:46:15

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#7 2013-09-29 05:04:55

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#8 2013-09-29 05:08:48

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#9 2013-09-29 05:11:52

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#10 2013-09-29 05:19:18

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#11 2013-09-29 05:20:45

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#12 2013-09-29 05:36:20

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#13 2013-09-29 06:30:47

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#14 2013-09-29 07:24:06

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#15 2013-09-29 15:01:41

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#16 2013-09-29 15:17:04

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#17 2013-09-29 15:51:41

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#18 2013-09-29 16:29:01

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#19 2013-09-29 17:05:10

Re: Downloading from the AUR

#20 2013-09-29 18:12:42

Re: Downloading from the AUR

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