checkinstall-like prog for arch?

Snarkout · 2005-12-11 18:41:09

I was wondering if there was a more direct way of installing source via pacman. I could do the ABS thing if I understood better how to find deps, but as it is I can't make heads or tails of what's required in a pkgbuild vs what's optional. I understand that having pacman manage packages is a better solution than "make install" but I'm having a hard time groking how to do it more simply.

An example is that when I used pacman to install dvd::rip a while ago, the version of lsdvd packaged with it was incorrect. This was easy enough to fix - it took 30 seconds to download and another minute to compile a new version. It would have taken me hours to figure out how to make a pkgbuild template for lsdvd. Even if it wouldn't have, it would have taken a pretty good chunk of time just to fill out the template. Of course, when a week or so later lsdvd was updated via pacman, it collided with my compiled version, and I had to rm mine to get the pacman upgrade to do its thing. Not a biggie with a single file, but it could get very ugly very fast, obviously.

I assume that if there was a checkinstall-like program for arch, I'd have read posts about it/have been able to google for it. If there is no other solution, does anyone have any good pointers for ABS how-tos beyond the wiki page? I'm a rank-newbie at the arch way, though not at all a linux newbie, and not averse to reading. I just find that often the wiki entries assume a certain level of prior knowledge that I just don't seem to have. Help a n00b out?

stavrosg · 2005-12-11 18:46:53

There are a couple of scripts in the User Contributions forum.
creapkg is among them

Snarkout · 2005-12-11 18:55:08

AH!

Sweet - thank you - I guess my search fu failed me.

tomk · 2005-12-11 20:40:31

Snarkout wrote:

I could do the ABS thing if I understood better how to find deps

Emmm... read the app's website, read the README file. Worst case, run ./configure and see what it gives out about.

Snarkout wrote:

I can't make heads or tails of what's required in a pkgbuild vs what's optional.

You'll pick up what's required by doing the above - as a rule, we don't include optional deps.

Snarkout wrote:

It would have taken me hours to figure out how to make a pkgbuild template for lsdvd.

You can get the PKGBUILD for any official Arch package from CVS, or create the ABS tree on your system - Item 6 on the ABS wiki page. Either way, checking out the devs' PKGBUILDs is very informative.

Snarkout wrote:

Of course, when a week or so later lsdvd was updated .. I had to rm mine to get the pacman upgrade to do its thing. Not a biggie with a single file, but it could get very ugly very fast, obviously.

A good reason to do it the Arch way from the start, right?

Snarkout wrote:

If there is no other solution, does anyone have any good pointers for ABS how-tos beyond the wiki page?

I don't know of any others. Try it, and post your questions, I'd say. I know I was in your position when I started with Arch - I expect many of us were.

Of course, maybe creapkg or one of the others will help you, but I reckon it would be worth your while learning it from scratch - I certainly never regretted it.

Snarkout · 2005-12-11 22:23:41

I agree with all of your points - thank you for your input. However, there's the tired aphorism about swatting flies with a sledgehammer, which holds true. I fully intend to learn the arch way, but for quick-fixes like the lsdvd issue I mentioned, I really didn't want to have to spend a day learning - I wanted a fix right then (which amounted to make install). If creapkg is similar enough to checkinstall, it will provide a useful stopgap while I figure the rest of it out.

I know I need to work on deps - I mentioned in another post that my usual method includes seeing what configure and make choke on, and then installing those libs, step-by-step. Obviously this isn't optimal, so I'll be glad to learn more when I have the chance.

Cerebral · 2005-12-11 23:40:28

pacman -Sf package-name

will force the package to be installed, even if there are file conflicts.

Can save you from RM'ing your personally-compiled version next time, I think.

Arch Linux

#1 2005-12-11 18:41:09

checkinstall-like prog for arch?

#2 2005-12-11 18:46:53

Re: checkinstall-like prog for arch?

#3 2005-12-11 18:55:08

Re: checkinstall-like prog for arch?

#4 2005-12-11 20:40:31

Re: checkinstall-like prog for arch?

#5 2005-12-11 22:23:41

Re: checkinstall-like prog for arch?

#6 2005-12-11 23:40:28

Re: checkinstall-like prog for arch?

Board footer