What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

yuki · 2017-04-26 10:19:25

May I ask that how to get and install arch linux GUI package manager, such as synaptic(in ubuntu) or pamac(in antergos) ?

Thanks in advance.

Taijian · 2017-04-26 10:22:22

There is none - so, you cannot ever install it. This is a conscious choice, so unlikey to be changed. If you want an Arch base but also a GUI package manager, you should go for Antergos or Manjaro.

V1del · 2017-04-26 11:03:01

The above is false. There are packagekit based solutions, including KDE's Discover and GNOME's Software in the official repos. pamac or similar are available in the AUR. Still none of these are officially supported, that you are inherently unable to use these is complete bogus.

Trilby · 2017-04-26 11:14:39

Well you got two very different answers above. They are both right - but they both may be a bit biased in their presentation (V1del's perhaps in order to counterbalance the previous).

There is absolutle not an arch linux GUI package manager. The arch linux package manager is pacman. There are, however, many gui package management tools that target archlinux and are possible to use - some of them are in our official repositories.

But I read this question like "How do I install the arch linux web browser" - the answer is there is no such thing as an arch linux web browser - but many browsers are available to arch users. There is no "arch linux gui package manager", but many such tools are available to you if you want to pick one and install it (with pacman).

Personally, I'd strongly discourage you from using any of those tools - at least for a while. Learn to use pacman first. If there is a minor issue with some update, fixing it with pacman may be trivial if you're familiar with pacman, while fixing it with some gui wrapper may not even be possible if you can't start X/wayland. Although arch often does appeal to those of us who like CLI interfaces and may rarely even need a gui running, there are just as many who use full fledged DEs with all their bells and whistles - but *every* archer should be comfortable working with the core (cli-based) system tools or they could find themselves in a very troubling spot when something goes wrong.

ghus · 2017-04-26 11:18:59

Although my preference (despite my newbie's ... ) for the simple terminal tasks , I 'll like to ask if the software center's of KDE Plasma Discover can be used for this purpose : is its development different from distro to distro ?
... but in any case I don't mind it can offer all the features the terminal do ( e.g. optional dependencies ) .

Edith : preceded

Last edited by ghus (2017-04-26 11:20:21)

V1del · 2017-04-26 11:27:46

Yes it can, packagekit is the library that implements the distro-specific packaging formats. Discover is just a frontend for packagekit and packagekit in turn implements the necessary format specifics. However, as no further effort on Arch's side is being done other than providing it as is and the program descriptions/screenshots coming from upstream xml definition files, most smaller applications and pretty much all of the libraries and cli tools will not have any descriptions present apart from the package name, thus it might not look as integrated as it could be if you were using a distro that makes the GUI package manager a priority.

LaurentvdB · 2017-04-26 17:47:04

Although I agree that you should try to use pacman via the terminal as that is the only supported option (and gives you the best information about dependencies, among others), you can also check the wiki-page for possible GUI options:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … front-ends

As mentioned above, these tools are not officially supported. If you are just looking to browse packages, you can also do that simply via the website (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/) and then install the package using pacman in the terminal.

seth · 2017-04-26 20:54:35

You can turn pacman into a GUI application:

sudo sed -i 's/^#Color\s*$/Color/g' /etc/pacman.conf

Trilby · 2017-04-26 20:58:11

There's definitely no need for the global flag to sed there. Shorter:

sed -i '/#Color/ s/^#//' /etc/pacman.conf

rdeckard · 2017-04-26 21:10:23

Even shorter!

sed -i '/#Co/ s/#//' /etc/pacman.conf

Last edited by rdeckard (2017-04-26 23:03:22)

Trilby · 2017-04-26 21:12:54

Really a GUI should be prettier than that, so don't forget after that:

sed -i '/^Co/ aILoveCandy' /etc/pacman.conf

seth · 2017-04-26 21:30:09

You're quite late for easter ...

Alad · 2017-04-26 21:34:27

Not sure we should be suggesting random sed commands to someone who asks for a GUI interface to pacman...

Last edited by Alad (2017-04-26 21:34:37)

Trilby · 2017-04-26 22:12:11

They aren't ranom. They're quite specific to give pacman a prettier interface.

ngoonee · 2017-04-27 05:21:06

Trilby wrote:

They aren't ranom. They're quite specific to give pacman a prettier interface.

OP asks for a GUI though, and however pretty or colored I doubt pacman qualifies

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-04-27 06:51:07

Trilby wrote:

The arch linux package manager is pacman.

The Arch Linux package manager is libalpm(3)

Both pacman(8) and pamac are front ends for that library.

Although pamac is available in the AUR, I seem to remember @Alad mentioning than it ran partial upgrades so perhaps it should be avoided in pure Arch.

Docbroke · 2017-04-27 08:24:24

How about "pcurses", it is in official repos, uses libalpm and pacman. It can make searching and selecting packages easier before working on the packages through pacman.

Alad · 2017-04-27 09:18:41

Although pamac is available in the AUR, I seem to remember @Alad mentioning than it ran partial upgrades so perhaps it should be avoided in pure Arch.

I went on a crusade against partial updates in GUI pacman front-ends a while back, and the stuff that remained is listed on the pacman tips page on the wiki. Besides pamac, octopi is another example which persistently runs partial upgrades.

Now If someone put a gun to my head and told me to use a GUI front-end, I'd probably go with tkpacman since basically all it does is run pacman commands in a terminal, while offering a preview of said commands.

Last edited by Alad (2017-04-27 09:21:56)

rdeckard · 2017-04-27 13:06:42

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … front-ends

Arch Linux

#1 2017-04-26 10:19:25

What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#2 2017-04-26 10:22:22

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#3 2017-04-26 11:03:01

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#4 2017-04-26 11:14:39

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#5 2017-04-26 11:18:59

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#6 2017-04-26 11:27:46

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#7 2017-04-26 17:47:04

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#8 2017-04-26 20:54:35

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#9 2017-04-26 20:58:11

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#10 2017-04-26 21:10:23

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#11 2017-04-26 21:12:54

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#12 2017-04-26 21:30:09

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#13 2017-04-26 21:34:27

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#14 2017-04-26 22:12:11

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#15 2017-04-27 05:21:06

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#16 2017-04-27 06:51:07

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#17 2017-04-27 08:24:24

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#18 2017-04-27 09:18:41

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

#19 2017-04-27 13:06:42

Re: What's arch linux GUI package manager ?

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