Arch Linux

shushu

Member

Registered: 2012-01-24

Posts: 35

[SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

Arch linux has by far the best documentation I've seen at this point and while I've read through the ABS section and the PACBUILDER section, I've not seen what I'm looking for.  Because of this, if its right in front of me, by all means, please point it out.

Here's what I'm looking to accomplish:

I'm running this on a simple notebook and I'm the only user so I don't really have any configurations that need be made on the fly later on, its pretty much just set it up the way I like it and that's that.  When I run a clean install, afterwards, I perform most of the steps outlined in the wiki's beginner's installation guide such as:

install sudo, modify sudoers (using wheel group method)
install x
install nouveau and mesa
install synaptic
install dbus

etc, etc, you get the point.

Anyhow, instead of spending 2 hours (yes it takes me that long) typing pacman -S <package> to get everything installed and then spending the time to modify things like daemon array in rc.conf, etc...  is there some way I can compile a set of packages to be installed together?  for example, if I could package the above mentioned packages inside one package then just execute with pacman -U custompackage1.tar.gz that would be a good time saver especially if I reformat the hard disk and want to get everything back to my "base clean install" with all my base settings, programs, etc etc.

I really hope this makes sense and that I didn't botch up my description of what I want to achieve.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by shushu (2012-01-24 18:51:19)

hokasch

Member

Registered: 2007-09-23

Posts: 1,461

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

The easiest would probably be to keep a list of packages you want to install, update the fresh system first and then pipe your packages into pacman like this

pacman -S $(<list)

You can back up your config files (just tar them with full path) but I wouldn't recommend overwriting them blindly, as depending on the config file things may be slightly different on other hardware or you could miss some change in upstream config (pacnew etc).

Last edited by hokasch (2012-01-24 14:27:43)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

The are some threads on the forum dedicated to install scripts of various kinds, you may want to have a look at them too.

b4data

Member

Registered: 2010-12-14

Posts: 141

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

typing pacman -S <package>

Just in case you're unaware (couldn't tell from your post), you can install multiple packages at once by typing

pacman -S <package1> <package2> <package3>

and so on...

Last edited by b4data (2012-01-24 17:24:29)

shushu

Member

Registered: 2012-01-24

Posts: 35

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

@ hokasch - I've never seen that syntax before, the '$(<list)' part.  thanks!
@b4data - you know, I never realized that.  and to think that I have actually done that before as part of an installation - cups to be specific.  thanks!

I didn't think it was that simple, as usual, I was trying to find a complicated way to accomplish a small task.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

We have that and more in our wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … d_packages

shushu

Member

Registered: 2012-01-24

Posts: 35

Re: [SOLVED] Install multiple packages at once?

wow.  no I just plain feel like a reject.  I read SO much of the wiki.  I mean, honestly, I seriously hit that wiki and promised myself I wouldn't visit these forums until I felt I had educated myself with the literature to a suitable extent.  HEHEHEH.  thanks for the link.