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#1 2006-06-21 16:29:01

joepotter
Member
From: Orlando, Fl. USA
Registered: 2005-12-31
Posts: 31

Arch packages question

Debian has 10,000 (just a guess) packages or so. Now many of those would never do me any good, but that is a lot of software. Do I really lose anything with Arch/pacman?

Thanks.


Regards, Joe

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#2 2006-06-21 16:58:16

Dusty
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From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: Arch packages question

Not really, it is usually amazingly easy to make a package for arch for the few oddball packages not avialble via pacman or the AUR. If you don't feel like doing it yourself you can post in the aur requests forum here and some eager user with time on their hands will usually have a package for you inside a day.

Dusty

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#3 2006-06-21 17:06:16

ScriptDevil
Member
From: In Front of My PC
Registered: 2006-04-06
Posts: 253

Re: Arch packages question

joepotter: one hardly misses a package in arch. Probably games are on the lower side


Be yourself, because you are all that you can be

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#4 2006-06-21 17:29:11

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Arch packages question

Post the most obscure app you've ever needed, and we'll see how Arch handles it - in Extra? Possible. Community? Probable. Unsupported? Almost certainly - and if it's not there yet, it's sure to appear very soon. smile

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#5 2006-06-21 18:58:01

joepotter
Member
From: Orlando, Fl. USA
Registered: 2005-12-31
Posts: 31

Re: Arch packages question

tomk wrote:

Post the most obscure app you've ever needed, and we'll see how Arch handles it - in Extra? Possible. Community? Probable. Unsupported? Almost certainly - and if it's not there yet, it's sure to appear very soon. smile

I have no programs that I am missing in Arch, I just wanted to know the score.

Thanks all.


Regards, Joe

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#6 2006-06-21 22:20:21

Pick2
Member
From: Illinois
Registered: 2006-05-16
Posts: 55

Re: Arch packages question

Just FYI:
From the Debian Homepage:
http://www.debian.org/

Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 15490 packages .....

10K  ... 15K   ...  Close enough !    wink

Pick2


Just Folded Space From Arrakis

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#7 2006-06-22 05:09:58

ScriptDevil
Member
From: In Front of My PC
Registered: 2006-04-06
Posts: 253

Re: Arch packages question

Really, they can do so with ease, because software createors first distribute the source and then make .deb and .rpm packages. So we get the latest if we compile the source. But see, it is impossible to keep track of every god-knows-not-who-uses-it package


Be yourself, because you are all that you can be

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#8 2006-06-22 11:05:24

joepotter
Member
From: Orlando, Fl. USA
Registered: 2005-12-31
Posts: 31

Re: Arch packages question

ScriptDevil wrote:

...  But see, it is impossible to keep track of every god-knows-not-who-uses-it package


Exactly right. That is why I asked in the first place.

If Debian has 15,000 packages and Arch has only 1,500 then Debian must be better, right? Well, no. If the 1,500 arch packages cover all the common things then that is fine.

I can compile the odd package that comes along once in a blue moon that I want and no one else does.


Regards, Joe

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#9 2006-06-22 12:34:10

hypermegachi
Member
Registered: 2004-07-25
Posts: 311

Re: Arch packages question

i'm not sure how debian counts its packages, but they tend to split packages up apart.

it's not uncommon for there to be foo, and foo-dev.  in arch, foo would include all the dev stuff as well.

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#10 2006-06-22 16:09:51

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Arch packages question

joepotter wrote:

I can compile the odd package that comes along once in a blue moon that I want and no one else does.

Or, because you can't be certain that nobody else wants it, you can package it Arch-style and put it in the AUR.

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#11 2006-06-22 17:05:52

joepotter
Member
From: Orlando, Fl. USA
Registered: 2005-12-31
Posts: 31

Re: Arch packages question

tomk wrote:

Or, because you can't be certain that nobody else wants it, you can package it Arch-style and put it in the AUR.

Well, unfortunately I have not had time to investigate that avenue. What how-to do you recommend?


Regards, Joe

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#12 2006-06-22 17:20:48

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: Arch packages question

Its surprisingly easy to build an arch package. If you can compile from scratch you can make a package. It takes about five minutes longer to build a package than to compile it from scratch the first time, but each time after that that you want to rebuild the package or update to a new version, it takes about constant time, so in the long run you save time. Plus if you put it in AUR you're saving other people time too! Its a great way to pay back the devs and community.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The … guidelines

Dusty

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#13 2006-06-22 18:50:07

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Arch packages question

Arch is the best distribution just since also the medium user can actively contribute with packages for the AUR, receiving help from the trusted users. And the quality of unsupported packages in the AUR is in my opinion surprisingly high. constituting an incredible example of worldwide, collective, semi-anonymous cooperation.


Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#14 2006-06-22 19:03:48

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: Arch packages question

Current Packages:
community(772)
current(525)
extra(1826)
testing(377)
unstable(27)
unsupported(2519)
Total(6046)


Now, keep in mind that debian has -devel packages and -doc packages, as well as -cvs and -svn packages.  If we assume that it covers around 40% of the packages, you're now down to around about 8500.

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