Arch Linux

cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Hi All,

Iḿ looking for a graphical frontend for pacman, like synaptic on ubuntu.

As far as I can see none of the frontends listed here work without problems:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pac … _Frontends

What is the best frontend for pacman?

Best regards,
Cedric

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Hi All,

Iḿ looking for a graphical frontend for pacman, like synaptic on ubuntu.

As far as I can see none of the frontends listed here work without problems:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pac … _Frontends

What is the best frontend for pacman?

Best regards,
Cedric

And what are the problems w/ Shaman?

tlaloc

Member

From: Lower Saxony

Registered: 2006-05-12

Posts: 359

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

AFAIK Shaman is not developed anymore. And one of its dependencies (aqpm - or something like that) doesn't work with pacman 3.4.0.

nTia89

Banned

From: varese, italy

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,230

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

IMHO most complete and similar to synaptic is PACKAGEKIT

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Cdh

Member

Registered: 2009-02-03

Posts: 1,098

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

O rly?

Dependency `devicekit-power' of `gnome-packagekit' does not exist.
Dependency `policykit1' of `packagekit-git' does not exist.
Dependency `pacman-glib' of `packagekit' does not exist.

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wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

O rly?

Dependency `devicekit-power' of `gnome-packagekit' does not exist.
Dependency `policykit1' of `packagekit-git' does not exist.
Dependency `pacman-glib' of `packagekit' does not exist.

the build is very out of date and needs some love. Not to mention that you should read the comments

devicekit* and policykit1 deprecated.  use upower and polkit.

Last edited by wonder (2010-08-05 09:07:31)

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Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,400

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Apparently gtk-pacman "works".

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Apparently gtk-pacman "works".

OMG! It's over seven thousaaaaand!

Congrats Allan and sorry for the OT ;P

cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=8027
gtkpacman looks good, but I have some worries about it. In the comments somebody states the following:

"Use this program at your own risk! This program is designed so that it will remove software with the -d switch, meaning it won't check if what you are removing is a dependency for another software package. Using this program to remove software puts you at risk for breaking your system."

"To be honest, I wouldn't use this software. It installs stuff with -d switch."

Can somebody figure out howto enable the dependency checks? As I see it now, I can only use gtkgnutella as a search engine, and then tell pacman to actually install the software.

Best regards,
Cedric

toad

Member

From: if only I knew

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,775

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

And what are the problems w/ Shaman?

It doesn't install/never worked for me...

==> Checking Runtime Dependencies...
==> Missing Dependencies:
  -> pacman<3.4
==> Checking Buildtime Dependencies...
==> ERROR: Could not resolve all dependencies.
The build failed.
Dependencies for `shaman' are not met, not building...

But:

toad@archtop 885\20 /home/toad > pacman -Qi pacman
Name           : pacman
Version        : 3.4.0-2

Ergo best fronted for pacman = pacman

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loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Although it's not graphical I have also found pacman to be a good pacman.

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Although it's not graphical I have also found pacman to be a good pacman.

Have you seen synaptic? Well, pacman ain't no synaptic :-)

Ogion

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-12-11

Posts: 367

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Although it's not graphical I have also found pacman to be a good pacman.

Have you seen synaptic? Well, pacman ain't no synaptic :-)

Thankfully so

Ogion

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loafer

Member

From: the pub

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 1,772

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Although it's not graphical I have also found pacman to be a good pacman.

Have you seen synaptic? Well, pacman ain't no synaptic :-)

I use synaptic, but it does not replace pacman on Arch... as far as package management on Arch goes pacman wins.

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iBertus

Member

From: Greenville, NC

Registered: 2004-11-04

Posts: 2,228

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

I think the lack of a GUI for pacman speaks to the simplicity that is pacman. You cannot make it any more simple by adding a GUI. I used to have Ubuntu at work and it's package manager drove me crazy (not to mention the stupid naming scheme for packages)...

Pierre

Developer

From: Bonn

Registered: 2004-07-05

Posts: 1,964

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Just use pacman, zsh and grml-zsh-config (or config that yourself). This gives you menu based completion etc.. That is even more powerful and more comfortable than any gui will ever be.

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tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

cdwijs - the most recent gktpacman release was two and a half years ago, and the most recent commit one year and eight months ago. It's your choice ultimately, but remember that Arch moves fast. Any app that is meant to fulfill an essential role in Arch, such as package management, needs to move fast too. gtkpacman clearly does not.

And as for "use gtkgnutella as a search engine, and then tell pacman to actually install the software" - do you honestly think that approach is more suitable for you than spending some time learning to use pacman properly?

Finally, I would recommend that, instead of simply trying to replicate the point/click experience you had with other distros, familiarise yourself with the Arch approach, and give yourself a decent chance with it. After all, there is a reason why nobody is bothered enough to write a working pacman gui.

cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

And as for "use gtkgnutella as a search engine, and then tell pacman to actually install the software" - do you honestly think that approach is more suitable for you than spending some time learning to use pacman properly?

I can of course spend some time to investigate the quiry options of pacman. But I think i can better spend my time fixing gtkpacman, so it honor dependensies.
This will not only help me, but this will also make sure my girlfriend can also install -and remove- software on my system without destroying the system.

I was hoping somebody beat me to it, that's why i asked if anybody had already fixed gtkpacman.

Best regards,
Cedric

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

And as for "use gtkgnutella as a search engine, and then tell pacman to actually install the software" - do you honestly think that approach is more suitable for you than spending some time learning to use pacman properly?

I can of course spend some time to investigate the quiry options of pacman. But I think i can better spend my time fixing gtkpacman, so it honor dependensies.
This will not only help me, but this will also make sure my girlfriend can also install -and remove- software on my system without destroying the system.

I was hoping somebody beat me to it, that's why i asked if anybody had already fixed gtkpacman.

Best regards,
Cedric

What most here are trying to tell you is that pacman does package management well as it is. If you're trusting your girlfriend with your system, just teach her -Ss, -S, and -R. Do everything else yourself, those are pretty safe.

Oh, and -Syu as well, but you probably should do that yourself.

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mikesd

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-02-01

Posts: 788

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

I think the lack of a GUI for pacman speaks to the simplicity that is pacman. You cannot make it any more simple by adding a GUI. I used to have Ubuntu at work and it's package manager drove me crazy (not to mention the stupid naming scheme for packages)...

Exactly. On the few Debian and Ubuntu machines I use I still use apt-get to manage packages.

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Wintervenom

Member

Registered: 2008-08-20

Posts: 1,011

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Related:  [Pacnet Package Categorization Project].

Last edited by Wintervenom (2010-08-06 09:41:19)

JohnVV

Member

From: Ann Arbor, Mi. U.S.A.

Registered: 2009-09-30

Posts: 107

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

pakman ?? i am still getting used to it
i guess i got spoiled with yum and fedora's yum gui

but then who needs a gui.

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mandog

Member

From: Peru

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 218

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Gtkpacman actually works very well at what it does. The best way to use it is to look up applications. then # pacman -S whatever, to install.

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toad

Member

From: if only I knew

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,775

Website

Re: is there a working graphical frontend for pacman?

Good to know, mandog - I've always used graphical PMs to get an overview of what was available (for example I was bored and wanted to check whether there was a game I fancied in the repos), but then shaman died on me and I do miss this "check all at a glance feature".

Since OpenOffice already has these diabolical gtk dialogues I may just try gtkpacman...

Cheers

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