Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

laichiaheng · 2021-11-11 08:51:56

I had posted a question about the Gnome Software few weeks or months before, and somebody told me that PackageKit does not work on Arch Linux.
Is that true? Does it mean that I can never update the system via Gnome Software?

Last edited by laichiaheng (2021-11-11 08:53:50)

seth · 2021-11-11 09:18:31

How about context?

1. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=270083
2.

V1del wrote:

Packagekit integration with Arch is very rudimentary, you should not rely - and expect incompatibilities and breakages - when using these to update system/arch packages.

3.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Graphical wrote:

Warning: PackageKit opens up system permissions by default, and is otherwise not recommended for general usage. See FS#50459 and FS#57943

PackageKit works, it's just shit.
Also you're simply running into https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-so … ssues/1114 which has nothingto do with archlinux, but is a packagekit bug, because, again: PackageKit is shit.
Use pacman ffs.

laichiaheng · 2021-11-11 09:27:12

I accidentally found the solution, it was answered by a Manjaro developer.
https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/ … issues/208
All I need to do are 2 steps:

cd /lib/systemd/system/system-update.target.wants
ln -s ../packagekit-offline-update.service packagekit-offline-update.service

He said that I could do it with this command:

systemctl enable packagekit-offline-update.service

However, it doesn't work. Is it intentionally removed by Arch?
At least Gnome Software can work as expected.

Last edited by laichiaheng (2021-11-11 09:40:58)

schard · 2021-11-11 09:51:13

As already stated, the packagekit implementation for libalpm was very rudimentary.
It kinda worked before pacman 6 and I happily used it.
But with pacman 6 came major changes to the API, which haven as of now, not yet been fully implemented in packagekit.

Gnome-software otoh uses flatpak to install packages not from the official Arch Linux repos.
I have a very strong opinion on flatpak and the usage of multiple package management systems, hence I don't use it.

And, finally, Manjaro is not Arch.

Last edited by schard (2021-11-11 09:56:35)

seth · 2021-11-11 09:56:06

Is it intentionally removed by Arch?

https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKi … service.in

There's no "Install" section, no WantedBy="" so however that service is meant to be invoked, you can't systemctl enable it. In doubt it's a bug in PackageShit.

And you don't have to cd into a directory to create a symlink there either…

Last edited by seth (2021-11-11 13:45:39)

orlfman · 2021-12-26 06:11:08

this really sucks. especially after the linus tech tips linux series, not having a gui with system integration with gnome for pacman sucks.

Last edited by orlfman (2021-12-26 06:11:37)

leonavis · 2021-12-26 06:20:45

orlfman wrote:

this really sucks. especially after the linus tech tips linux series, not having a gui with system integration with gnome for pacman sucks.

Why though. Just use pacman via command line. It's not that hard. Having a GUI for something you don't need a GUI for is kinda... not KISS.

u could just use pamac and enable fake gnome: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pamac-aur/

Zeph commented on 2021-11-01 09:19
V10.2.2 : Optional fake gnome software, edit PKGBUILD and modify line 4
ENABLE_FAKE_GNOME_SOFTWARE=0
to
ENABLE_FAKE_GNOME_SOFTWARE=1

Last edited by leonavis (2021-12-26 06:36:07)

seth · 2021-12-26 09:18:02

especially after the linus tech tips linux series

Too much eggnog?

not having a gui

Arch isn't exactly a GUI distro…

with system integration with gnome for pacman sucks

Which is incorrect: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=270083
As pointed out before:

seth wrote:

PackageKit works, it's just shit.

For clarification, it's not "packagekit support for pacman is shit" but "it's a wonky implementation of a design flaw kind of shit" - so not only are you trying to run unattended updates (bad) but delegate that to a lousy infrastructure (stupid)
If you just want a little icon telling you that it's beyond time to update, see checkupdates from https://archlinux.org/packages/communit … n-contrib/ and eg. https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/ … indicator/ (unvetted, I don't use gnome)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-11-11 08:51:56

Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#2 2021-11-11 09:18:31

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#3 2021-11-11 09:27:12

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#4 2021-11-11 09:51:13

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#5 2021-11-11 09:56:06

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#6 2021-12-26 06:11:08

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#7 2021-12-26 06:20:45

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

#8 2021-12-26 09:18:02

Re: Will the Gnome Software never work for updating system on Arch Linux?

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