[SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

jojo06 · 2025-10-29 13:03:51

Hi!

I want to install the Cursor IDE. I've heard of `debtap` and `dropbox` for safely installing certain packages for Arch.
Then I noticed it's also available on `yay`. A `.deb` package is also available (dpkg installation method). There's also an option to install from GitHub. There's also a method to place it in the `/opt` directory.

If we were to rank them from best to worst (from recommended to not recommended), how would you rank them?

Thanks

Last edited by jojo06 (2025-11-03 16:56:33)

Allan · 2025-10-29 13:22:13

clone the AUR repo, look at the files, then use makepkg and pacman.

jojo06 · 2025-10-29 14:12:02

AUR is safer than others ? And what will be second best practise to do if package is not on the AUR repo ?

Scimmia · 2025-10-29 14:22:52

Second best is to write a PKGBUILD yourself.

Nikolai5 · 2025-10-29 14:28:16

jojo06 wrote:

AUR is safer than others ? And what will be second best practise to do if package is not on the AUR repo ?

So let's say cursor wasn't in the AUR, they provide an app image and a .deb file.

The app image would be the easiest option, you'd just download and run that.

The deb file would require more work, you can extract it and work with it, but that's where using it with a PKGBUILD script would be better.
The AUR is doing exactly that, they are using a script to extract the .deb file and set it up so that the zst / arch package installs all the files in the appropriate locations.

You can make your own package, and maybe even add it to the AUR: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PKGBUILD
Worth noting you can also use an app image with a PKGBUILD.

Up to you how far you want to go. If you are someone who enjoys best practice, note that Yay is not supported, the best practice is to clone an AUR repo and use makepkg to build it and then pacman to install it.
If you want an easy way to check for AUR package updates you can use something like 'Auracle', its an AUR helper tool, not a wrapper for Pacman.

jojo06 · 2025-10-29 14:54:00

If you want an easy way to check for AUR package updates you can use something like 'Auracle', its an AUR helper tool, not a wrapper for Pacman.

This is pretty good because we can't update the yay.

You can make your own package, and maybe even add it to the AUR: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PKGBUILD

Is that what @Scimmia said ? Writing your own PKGBUILD ?

Yes, it was good that I learned how to install AUR using the zst method.

The deb file would require more work, you can extract it and work with it, but that's where using it with a PKGBUILD script would be better.
The AUR is doing exactly that, they are using a script to extract the .deb file and set it up so that the zst / arch package installs all the files in the appropriate locations.
"the best practice is to clone an AUR repo and use makepkg to build it and then pacman to install it."

Why AUR is not doing `makepkg -si` ? And how is different than .deb > zst ?

If I understand correctly, you're saying I can easily update package repositories with `Auracle`, right? Like `pacman -Syu`.

Nikolai5 · 2025-10-29 15:04:36

jojo06 wrote:

If I understand correctly, you're saying I can easily update package repositories with `Auracle`, right? Like `pacman -Syu`.

auracle outdated will tell you that some packages are out of date, you would then need to go to into wherever you've put those cloned repos, and redo the same steps you took when you first installed it.

So for me I store them in ~/Programs/AUR/
So for example, if I had to update teams-for-linux, I would do the following:

cd ~/Programs/AUR/teams-for-linux
git pull
git diff HEAD^ HEAD # check what the differences are (optional, kind of)
makepkg -sr # build package
sudo pacman -U teams-1234.zst  # install the package.
git clean -xfd   # clean the build files and anything else left over from the build.

That's generally what I do.
You might prefer a different workflow though, but I find it simple and easy to manage.
The reason for the 'git clean' is that the PKGBUILD and the odd other file consume less than 1MB, but after build the directory could be huge, so don't forget to clean.

glek · 2025-10-29 15:17:34

@Nikolai5 has the right idea if you're not using an AUR helper.

If you want a one liner:

# -C Remove $srcdir / dir before building
# -c Clean up after build
# -s Install missing dependencies with pacman
# -r Remove installed dependencies after building
# -i Install package after a successful build
makepkg -Ccsri

I also, like them, keep my installed AUR packages in a special folder if I'm not using an AUR helper. I use "~/.aur/" for the root and make subfolders for different purposes (e.g. "installed", "testing", etc.)

You might also want to check out the AUR Helpers wiki page to see a list of available AUR helpers. I personally use "yay" as it's very close to "pacman" in terms of a command line interface. Your milage may vary, though. When in doubt, just use "makepkg".

jojo06 · 2025-10-30 13:21:12

Okay thank you all. Its solved.

glek · 2025-10-30 13:22:05

Glad to hear! Please remember to mark your thread as "[SOLVED]" if your issue has been resolved!

Cheers!

Edit: You were ahead of me, nice!

Last edited by glek (2025-10-30 13:22:49)

jojo06 · 2025-10-30 18:05:37

I tried this to update.

makepkg -Ccsri

Its just reinstalled and cursor still shows `updates available`

Nikolai5 · 2025-10-30 18:13:08

jojo06 wrote:

Its just reinstalled and cursor still shows `updates available`

Judging from the pinned comment on the AUR page, they don't update the PKGBUILD after every release / patch.
It looks like they've built some scripts to check and perform the updates: https://github.com/Gunther-Schulz/aur-c … in-updater

jojo06 · 2025-10-31 00:42:32

So, can I do updates using `pacman -Syu`? Will it add to that(pacman) part? Otherwise, manual installation seems to be the only option. Or install the package by makepkg or DPKGBUILD and not using AUR. Because I'll fall behind on updates.

yay -S cursor-bin --rebuild
OR
yay -S cursor-bin --rebuildtree

git pull
or without pull just:
makepkg -Ccs
sudo pacman -U cursor-bin-*.pkg.tar.zst

I found these from internet search.

There are also RPM and AppImage options. Which method is the most reliable for Arch?

Last edited by jojo06 (2025-10-31 12:53:00)

glek · 2025-11-01 18:21:57

jojo06 wrote:

So, can I do updates using `pacman -Syu`? Will it add to that(pacman) part?

Generally speaking, all packages installed via `pacman` or the AUR will be managed by `pacman` with the notable exception that it is your responsibility to check your AUR packages for updates yourself. `pacman` will not do it for you as it is not meant to understand whether an AUR package is outdated or not.

jojo06 wrote:

Or install the package by makepkg or DPKGBUILD and not using AUR. Because I'll fall behind on updates.

If you are using "makepkg" you are using the AUR (or building an official package from source but I think that's not the question here). Also, DPKGBUILD? As in dpkg-buildpackage? As in Debian? Are you sure you know which Linux distro you're using?

jojo06 wrote:

<Note: edited to remove big code block>

Running `yay -S cursor-bin` should be sufficient to trigger Cursor to update properly. Optionally add `--rebuild` to force the package to be rebuilt. `--rebuildtree` is if you need to rebuild the entire tree of AUR packages about to be installed (e.g. a package and its AUR dependencies).

Running `makepkg` without `git pull` first is generally a bad idea as if the `PKGBUILD` has been updated for any reason you'll miss out on those changes. Your milage may vary. Also, the `sudo pacman -U` step is not required. Just put an `i` on the end of your `makepkg` call to auto-install. I also usually recommend add `r` to remove unneeded build dependencies afterwards too.

jojo06 wrote:

I found these from internet search.

While I encourage searching things on the internet I also encourage understanding the things you look up as well. If you don't understand what you're reading/running you can get yourself into trouble.

jojo06 wrote:

There are also RPM and AppImage options. Which method is the most reliable for Arch?

The official repositories are the most reliable, if available. From there it's a bit of a matter of personal preference, I'd say. I prefer the AUR, personally, but that's because I can see what's going on when it comes to what I'm installing. I don't really like AppImages because I feel they take away an element of control. They are very convenient, though. RPM is usually not something I see much on Arch Linux so I don't think you'll find it very useful.

jojo06 · 2025-11-01 21:11:31

So there was another option: manual installation from the .deb file. I use Arch, but I was able to install deb packages with it.

As far as I understand, they all use `yay`. But what's the difference from using the `yay -Syu` command? Or let's do it just once, not all of them (if that's the harmful part) `yay -Syu cursor-bin`

yay -S cursor-bin --rebuild --rebuildtree

That one worked.

And you referring to doing; `git pull` & `makepkg -ir` will do the same ?

So what I read was: `yay -Syu` should definitely not be done. Or did I read it wrong?

Scimmia · 2025-11-01 21:18:58

jojo06 wrote:

So there was another option: manual installation from the .deb file. I use Arch, but I was able to install deb packages with it.

No, that is not an option if you don't want to destroy your system. Don't ever do this.

jojo06 wrote:

As far as I understand, they all use `yay`...

I have no idea what 'they' you're talking about there, and everything you said after this is nonsense.

jojo06 · 2025-11-01 23:19:43

No, that is not an option if you don't want to destroy your system. Don't ever do this.

I was doing for 1 package only. Okay got it.
The method/methods we were talking about. Thats what i meant by they.
So updating yay is no harmless, got it.

But isnt it updating with `git pull` & `makepkg -ir` and with yay will do the same upgrade to package ?

glek · 2025-11-03 16:42:13

jojo06 wrote:

So there was another option: manual installation from the .deb file. I use Arch, but I was able to install deb packages with it.

As Scimmia said, do not do this if you want to keep your system working. Just don't do it. Period.

jojo06 wrote:

As far as I understand, they all use `yay`.

Yes, many people use `yay`.

jojo06 wrote:

But what's the difference from using the `yay -Syu` command?

`yay -Syu` is equivalent to `pacman -Syu` in that it upgrades all packages on your system. You do not need to pass a package into it.

jojo06 wrote:

Or let's do it just once, not all of them (if that's the harmful part) `yay -Syu cursor-bin`

And you've got what's harmful mixed up. Upgrading packages one by one is the harmful part because it can leave your system in a broken state. You are far better off upgrading everything at once by using `yay -Syu` or `pacman -Syu`. The exception is cases where you have a package that does not update its version number routinely, like `cursor-bin`. Those must be updated by re-installing them manually. Do so by running `yay -S --rebuild cursor-bin`.

jojo06 wrote:

So updating yay is no harmless, got it.

Updating via `yay` is about as harmless as updating via `pacman`. Which is to say; read the news page on https://archlinux.org/news/ before you do anything to ensure there's nothing you need to manually do first. Once you're sure that's okay then you can update via `yay` or `pacman`.

jojo06 wrote:

But isnt it updating with `git pull` & `makepkg -ir` and with yay will do the same upgrade to package ?

Close enough, yes. There are some differences but the general idea is the same. `yay`, behind the scenes, is running `git pull` and then `makepkg` with a bunch of arguments that you can control to some degree.

P.S. At this point I don't think I have much more to contribute to this conversation so I'm probably not going to respond any further here.

jojo06 · 2025-11-03 16:57:16

P.S. At this point I don't think I have much more to contribute to this conversation so I'm probably not going to respond any further here.

There is nothing left to contribute more. Its solved, thanks mate

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-29 13:03:51

[SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#2 2025-10-29 13:22:13

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#3 2025-10-29 14:12:02

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#4 2025-10-29 14:22:52

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#5 2025-10-29 14:28:16

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#6 2025-10-29 14:54:00

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#7 2025-10-29 15:04:36

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#8 2025-10-29 15:17:34

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#9 2025-10-30 13:21:12

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#10 2025-10-30 13:22:05

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#11 2025-10-30 18:05:37

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#12 2025-10-30 18:13:08

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#13 2025-10-31 00:42:32

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#14 2025-11-01 18:21:57

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#15 2025-11-01 21:11:31

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#16 2025-11-01 21:18:58

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#17 2025-11-01 23:19:43

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#18 2025-11-03 16:42:13

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

#19 2025-11-03 16:57:16

Re: [SOLVED]How do I install package not in Pacman in a healthy way?

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