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#1 2004-06-10 04:05:10

android
Member
From: San Diego
Registered: 2003-04-18
Posts: 160

Choosing initial packages

Hi Archers,

I'm in the process of setting up my third arch box.

I'm running into the same trouble I ran into the first two times. This time I think I'm aware enough to describe it.

I want to choose a large number of packages for initial install. The ISO CD install recommends only installing BASE and then updating online.

I agree this is best, but the problem is that update (pacman -Su) only applies to packages that are already installed.

How do I get a large number of packages onto the system initially, without running pacman -S package-name for each and every one?

The group options (e.g. pacman -Sg) would seem to be the solution to this,  but the existing groups do not include a large number of the available packages. It seems there should be groups for devel, servers or deamons, etc. Almost a group for each subdirectory in the abs tree.

Anyway, I know there's probably a way to accomplish this that I just haven't managed to stumble onto.

Thanks to all of the Archers that have helped me in the past!

This is a GREAT distro...

John E. A.

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#2 2004-06-10 07:49:58

cactus
Taco Eater
From: t͈̫̹ͨa͖͕͎̱͈ͨ͆ć̥̖̝o̫̫̼s͈̭̱̞͍̃!̰
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 4,622
Website

Re: Choosing initial packages

if you are balking at just the repetetive nature of typeing all the things you want, just write a schell script for it...

#!/bin/bah
PACKAGES='bind postfix httpd'

pacman -Sy pacman
for varx in $PACKAGES
do
  pacman -S $varx
done

You will have to press Y or N occasionally to say whether or not you really want to install..I'm sure there is an argument to pacman that can assume yes, but I don't offhand know what it is....


"Be conservative in what you send; be liberal in what you accept." -- Postel's Law
"tacos" -- Cactus' Law
"t̥͍͎̪̪͗a̴̻̩͈͚ͨc̠o̩̙͈ͫͅs͙͎̙͊ ͔͇̫̜t͎̳̀a̜̞̗ͩc̗͍͚o̲̯̿s̖̣̤̙͌ ̖̜̈ț̰̫͓ạ̪͖̳c̲͎͕̰̯̃̈o͉ͅs̪ͪ ̜̻̖̜͕" -- -̖͚̫̙̓-̺̠͇ͤ̃ ̜̪̜ͯZ͔̗̭̞ͪA̝͈̙͖̩L͉̠̺͓G̙̞̦͖O̳̗͍

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#3 2004-06-10 12:18:31

shen
Member
Registered: 2003-09-05
Posts: 272
Website

Re: Choosing initial packages

you can also do this...

pacman -Sy package1 package2 package3 and so on...basically after typing pacman -Sy just type each package name with a space between each one. Once done it will install every package you typed including the needed dependancies.


I always do an ftp install and only do a base install and that is it.

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#4 2004-06-10 12:28:43

wdemoss
Member
From: WV - USA
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 222

Re: Choosing initial packages

John Andrews wrote:

The group options (e.g. pacman -Sg) would seem to be the solution to this,  but the existing groups do not include a large number of the available packages. It seems there should be groups for devel, servers or deamons, etc. Almost a group for each subdirectory in the abs tree.

I think that is a good idea. You should submit a feature request on the bug tracker for adding the groups in abs as groups for pacman also.
-wd


Hobbes : Shouldn't we read the instructions?
Calvin : Do I look like a sissy?

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#5 2004-06-10 15:38:46

sarah31
Member
From: Middle of Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 2,975
Website

Re: Choosing initial packages

the problem with grouping the subdirectories is that not all packages in any given directory are compatable with each other. for example lprng and cups conflict and both are in daemons.

grouping things like xfce4 or kde and other related packages (all cup related packages or all lprng packages) makes sense.


AKA uknowme

I am not your friend

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#6 2004-06-10 20:38:17

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: Choosing initial packages

Prune the old packages from a pacman cache on another Arch box, then copy the cache over to the new pc and do "pacman -A *" in the cache directory.

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#7 2004-06-10 20:44:15

Xentac
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2003-01-17
Posts: 1,797
Website

Re: Choosing initial packages

wdemoss wrote:
John Andrews wrote:

The group options (e.g. pacman -Sg) would seem to be the solution to this,  but the existing groups do not include a large number of the available packages. It seems there should be groups for devel, servers or deamons, etc. Almost a group for each subdirectory in the abs tree.

I think that is a good idea. You should submit a feature request on the bug tracker for adding the groups in abs as groups for pacman also.
-wd

The response to the feature request would go something like this:

abs
pacman -S `ls /var/abs/category`


I have discovered that all of mans unhappiness derives from only one source, not being able to sit quietly in a room
- Blaise Pascal

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#8 2004-06-10 20:52:30

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: Choosing initial packages

Another one: Do pacman -Q on an Arch pc and use that as input for pacman -S.

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#9 2004-06-10 20:54:01

apeiro
Daddy
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-12
Posts: 771
Website

Re: Choosing initial packages

John Andrews wrote:

I want to choose a large number of packages for initial install. The ISO CD install recommends only installing BASE and then updating online.

That's not to say that you can't select more than Base at install time.  I just threw that in there for new (ie, never installed Arch before) users that may think that pacman has frozen at install time.  It takes a good while to resolve dependencies of a larger package set, and some users just bail, thinking that the installer has locked up.  As far as I know, the Current repository doesn't contain any conflicting packages, so you should be able to install the entire thing at once, if you're willing to wait 10 minutes for pacman to figure out the dependencies and do all the file-conflict checks.  I've tested a full install multiple times, and it worked fine.

Another option, if you're building multiple boxes, is to save your package list from one and then install that same list on another.

box1# pacman -Q | awk '{print $1}' >pkglist
box2# pacman -Sy `cat pkglist`

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#10 2004-07-01 05:18:02

android
Member
From: San Diego
Registered: 2003-04-18
Posts: 160

Re: Choosing initial packages

Many thanks for the suggestions!

A number of these got me thinking of new ways to use pacman.

The new workstation is running fine...

John E. A.

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