Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

schmidtbag · 2011-02-18 22:27:51

I created a program called Master Archer, which can:
* Easily edit /etc/pacman.conf
* Enable/disable repositories
* Easily change download servers
* Quickly update packages
* Remove orphaned packages
* Install and remove packages from both the official and AUR repos in the same list.

All in a simple graphical interface. I'm a big supporter of using the terminal, but there are situations where it's just too slow or too difficult to use.
My tool is designed specifically to take away those slow and challenging moments.

More info and download link are available at the sorceforge page:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/marcher/

KNOWN ISSUES:
*If you run this from the terminal, there are times where streams of errors will appear. This is not an issue at all, it's just the program trying to find data that doesn't exist.

Please leave comments and suggestions below. If anyone would like me to add something, post a comment.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2011-03-23 02:01:58)

Him · 2011-02-18 23:42:12

Well, you could leave the option for users to set a file that they could edit to change the desktop. For example, obconf for Openbox, rc.lua and theme.lua for Awesome, etc.

schmidtbag · 2011-02-19 00:06:19

Him wrote:

Well, you could leave the option for users to set a file that they could edit to change the desktop. For example, obconf for Openbox, rc.lua and theme.lua for Awesome, etc.

i'm not sure what you mean, are you saying something that lets people choose which desktop environment starts up? if so, KDM can already do that and besides, thats a pretty rare situation. also, my tool requires a graphical interface to work in the first place, so you typically would already have that sort of thing configured before you would even get my tool running in the first place.

toad · 2011-02-22 17:58:16

Hm, a gui for pacman.conf and mirrorlist. Funky.

It'd be cool if you could provide screenshots, incorporate reflector and perhaps even paccheck.

schmidtbag · 2011-02-22 18:02:52

toad wrote:

Hm, a gui for pacman.conf and mirrorlist. Funky.
It'd be cool if you could provide screenshots, incorporate reflector and perhaps even paccheck.

I would do screenshots but I'm not really sure how I'd get them - my program doesn't really "research" anything, so unless you know of a server that hosts screenshots of all packages that'd be great to know about.

What exactly do "reflector" and "paccheck" do? Depending on their purpose I'll gladly add them for you.

anonymous_user · 2011-02-22 18:26:22

Reflector retrieves information from archlinux.org's Mirror Status service via the JSON interface and filters servers based on user options to generate mirrorlists for Pacman, Powerpill, etc

paccheck downloads Arch Linux pacman sync database files from multiple mirrors and compares them against pacman’s sync and package cache in an attempt to detect a compromised mirror.

toad · 2011-02-22 18:35:56

Server to host screenshots? www.omploader.org?

Oh, and is it GTK or QT?

drcouzelis · 2011-02-22 20:15:33

toad wrote:

It'd be cool if you could provide screenshots, incorporate reflector and perhaps even paccheck.

Wait, do you want Master Archer to provide screenshots of the packages, or do you want screenshots of Master Archer? Anyway, there's a few screenshots on the Sourcforge project page.

toad wrote:

Is it GTK or QT?

I think it's Python + Tkinker, but I'd be interested in hearing why schmidtbag chose the toolkit he did.

schmidtbag · 2011-02-22 20:43:42

anonymous_user wrote:

Reflector retrieves information from archlinux.org's Mirror Status service via the JSON interface and filters servers based on user options to generate mirrorlists for Pacman, Powerpill, etc
paccheck downloads Arch Linux pacman sync database files from multiple mirrors and compares them against pacman’s sync and package cache in an attempt to detect a compromised mirror.

I might add reflector some day, but unless I misunderstood how that would be used in an average situation, I somewhat find that a low priority. However, I can add a poll (if these forums let you, I haven't checked if they can) and I'll add it if it gets enough votes. It seems to me paccheck is one of those things you really only do once in a very long while. Typically if you found a server that is very consistent with its packages, I would figure it'd stay that way. Again, I can do a poll on that.

Although my program already has a few dependencies, I'd like to avoid anything that doesn't have many purposes and isn't easily accessible through pacman (yaourt was an exception, because thats a core feature of my program). Keep in mind my program is designed to make an easy transition for new Arch users, but have enough advanced tools in it to make it useful to long term users.

EDIT:
After some thought, if anyone thinks reflector or paccheck would be very useful with a GUI, I could add them as optional dependencies, and so in the main menu the buttons would just be grayed out if you didn't have them. I'd like everyone's input on this, I want my tool to be helpful to everyone but I don't want to waste my time adding features that are either low demand or don't need a GUI in any situation.

@toad
I don't care about hosting screenshots, like drcouzelis said, I have the screenshots on the sourceforge page. I would really like Master Archer to provide screenshots of the packages, and that is what I don't know where to go to.
also, its neither GTK or Qt, its Tk

@drcouzelis
Yes, it is python+tkinter. I chose tkinter for a few reasons. 1, its the only toolkit I bothered to learn 2, it tends to come with python, so nobody has to bother getting additional dependencies and 3, it's pretty easy. After creating the program I realized there were certain situations where something like wxpython would have been a better choice. I basically did the best I could on designing the interface with what Tkinter has to offer, which is limiting.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2011-02-22 20:53:19)

na12 · 2011-02-22 21:28:10

You can use this site for screenshots
http://screenshots.debian.net/

schmidtbag · 2011-02-22 21:59:35

na12 wrote:

You can use this site for screenshots
http://screenshots.debian.net/

I'd like to use that but theres 2 problems with it:
1. Debian often tweaks the name of packages, so even while the screenshot database is small, the results are going to be even more limiting
2. They restrict access to searching their directory so that will be harder for me to code it.

schmidtbag · 2011-03-02 01:57:20

Hey everyone, I just released version 0.2 with some minor fixes.

- Fixed random close of xterm windows
- Hid data file
- Fixed server selector so the "any" selection can be made

schmidtbag · 2011-03-23 02:05:44

Version 0.3 just released. Here are some bigger fixes:

- Arch search is GREATLY improved, so now keyword searches are broadened and you can now use multiple keywords to refine searches
- Minor server picker glitch fixed.

schmidtbag · 2011-09-24 18:24:37

I posted version 0.45 about a month ago with a lot of bug fixes and revisions. There shouldn't be any major glitches at this point.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-18 22:27:51

Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#2 2011-02-18 23:42:12

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#3 2011-02-19 00:06:19

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#4 2011-02-22 17:58:16

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#5 2011-02-22 18:02:52

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#6 2011-02-22 18:26:22

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#7 2011-02-22 18:35:56

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#8 2011-02-22 20:15:33

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#9 2011-02-22 20:43:42

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#10 2011-02-22 21:28:10

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#11 2011-02-22 21:59:35

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#12 2011-03-02 01:57:20

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#13 2011-03-23 02:05:44

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

#14 2011-09-24 18:24:37

Re: Master Archer - The All-in-One Arch Linux Graphical Tool

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