Arch Linux

ThoughtBubble

Member

Registered: 2024-07-09

Posts: 55

[SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

If one can download pre-built binaries from GitHub for some applications, why would he/she need to use AUR?

Last edited by ThoughtBubble (2024-09-28 00:58:51)

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 2,167

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

history ... I guess
the AUR also has a lot of *-bin packages

shulamy

Member

From: israel

Registered: 2010-09-11

Posts: 468

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

to let pacman know

ezik

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,808

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

Also pre-built against what environment?
There's a reason why those wonky container systems (snapdockflatschpak) exist because you cannot expect to generically be able to built stuff on some stable debian system and run the application on arch or vice-versa because of API/ABI incompatibilities in underlying libraries etc.

The AUR is a convenience tool for users to share build instructions they found to produce usable results on archlinux, plus as shulamy pointed out, bypassing the package manager is something your older self is gonna hate your younger self later on.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

gtf21

Member

Registered: 2020-06-28

Posts: 141

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

I think there's also a wider argument which is happening in some programming language communities: making Github an intrinsic part of your infrastructure is dangerous because it's a lot of consolidation and maybe not everyone wants to be going through a Microsoft company for their operating system updates.

I think it's better to run the infrastructure such that it's separable. The AUR UI isn't as polished, but it is its own thing.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,456

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

I think this question itself misses the point.  It's like asking if someone had a hammer why would they need a screwdriver.  They're completely different tools for with completely different purposes.

The pre-built binary aspect of the question is really a red-herring in the end as it's completely beside the point.  You could just as well ask why would someone use the AUR when they can just "./configure && make && sudo make install".  The answer is the same.

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

tdtooke

Member

Registered: 2023-04-11

Posts: 245

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

to let pacman know

ezik

I second this.  My first go around in linux I did a fair amount of "./configure  make  sudo make install".  I always found that holding onto my source folder forever for a clean uninstall was problematic so I just started building a package for everything.  I should probably put a few on AUR, but I'm lazy.

Edit:  My git version of Lantern would've been perfect for this but since they shut down clients for ICC it doesn't do anything anymore. </rant>

Last edited by tdtooke (2024-09-27 16:05:45)

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 2,167

Re: [SOLVED] Why use AUR over GitHub?

to let pacman know

plus as shulamy pointed out, bypassing the package manager is something your older self is gonna hate your younger self later on.

You could just as well ask why would someone use the AUR when they can just "./configure && make && sudo make install".  The answer is the same.

My first go around in linux I did a fair amount of "./configure  make  sudo make install".  I always found that holding onto my source folder forever for a clean uninstall was problematic so I just started building a package for everything.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=299146
These sum it up rather good: Using some random binary without taking advantage of the systems package manager can be compared to Windows as downloading most stuff as non-installer portable versions: You wouldn't have the power to use the systems software registry to cleanly uninstall applications.
An additional big plus of using the package manager: Automatic dependency management - or what's known on Windows as "DLL hell" with several dozen versions of DotNET with each application and mostly games use some different. Have you ever installed about two dozen games on windows? You'll end up with almost double that of different DotNET versions which also a big contributor to the huge storage waste on modern Windows.
Sure, most unix projects list thier dependencies - but from my LFS: Just to add wget, curl and ssh took my an entire afternoon - not the actual building but rather the manual dependecy solving. With a package manager this gets down to one command and less than a minute.