Packman frontend

inkrypted · 2011-07-28 05:51:25

I was looking at frontends to pacman and wanted some input as a former synaptic and kpackagekit user (not very much love for kpackagekit) I was wondering what the community would recommend for someone running the KDE enviroment.

Inxsible · 2011-07-28 05:54:55

always read the wiki first :: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … _Frontends

There is also : https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=114112, but I don't know the current status of it.

inkrypted · 2011-07-28 05:56:52

Sorry I should have stated that is where I was looking at frontends. Just wondering if the community at large had any prefrences.

Inxsible · 2011-07-28 05:58:35

Normally here at the Arch forums, users refrain from telling you what you should and shouldn't use. Its your system after all, use it the way you want.

In such scenarios, its best to try out the potential contenders and decide for yourself which <insert any app here> you like best

inkrypted · 2011-07-28 06:00:55

Ah I guess that would fit in with the exploritory nature of the distro.

SanskritFritz · 2011-07-28 06:18:12

Nevertheless, I really recommend using pacman itself, using Arch, you should get familiar with the command line and the KISS philosophy behind it.

tomk · 2011-07-28 06:41:15

Agreed - the "comunity at large" does not use frontends for pacman, hence their marked absence from the official repos.

inkrypted · 2011-07-28 07:01:30

I will use pacman. Just since it all seems to be about customization and your system I prefer a frontend. Using a PKGBUILD for kpackagekit downloaded from the wiki I was disappointed to find it did not work. It seems the author pointed to kde-apps.org for some of the files and it is not accessible now. Well this is one of those bumps I mentioned.

Lone_Wolf · 2011-07-28 10:45:59

you probably are referring to the aur pacakge kpackagekit 0.6.3.3-2

Did you download the tarball or only the PKGBUILD ?

Eliwood · 2011-07-28 10:58:12

I hope nobody will think that I'm a noob, but even after 3 years using Linux I still prefer GUI to terminal and because I use KDE I find Appset-QT best for me. Maybe it will suit you as well.

mkkot · 2011-07-28 22:36:35

Maybe community uses pacman because there isn't really a working graphical frontend? Or am I wrong about it?

hauzer · 2011-07-28 22:40:52

AFAIK, there isn't a GUI frontend that can captivate the power of pacman well, or at all in some cases.

Lone_Wolf · 2011-07-29 10:24:53

mkkot wrote:

Maybe community uses pacman because there isn't really a working graphical frontend? Or am I wrong about it?

I like to be in control of my system, and graphical frontends tend to :
- hide information about what happens
- leave out options

hitest · 2011-07-29 11:40:36

I really like using pacman at the CLI; it is so fast and powerful. I find that graphical front-ends slow down your system. I'm a new Arch user; I've been running Arch for about two years. I much prefer systems like Arch, Slackware, and FreeBSD that are primarily configured on the command line. I like control of my system.

GSF1200S · 2011-07-30 03:45:06

I mirror the consensus that it is better to manage pacman from the command line, especially for installing, removing, upgrading, and installing things from the AUR via a wrapper (listed in the wiki above).

However, I have found a cool piece of software offered in the AUR called pkgbrowser. The forum thread is here:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=117297

Pkgbrowser does not install, remove, upgrade, or otherwise modify your system- its purpose is to be an information tool. It gives you a repo and AUR searching tool (with wildcard searching if you cant remember the exact name), dependency chains for any given package (even including AUR packages), an orphans list, packages list, etc. Sometimes when I want a package but I dont know the name, ill just fire up pkgbrowser to search for it. If I want to clean my system of unnecessary crap, I simply fire it up and can graphically see whats installed, orphaned, etc.

Yes, these things can be done via the command line, and in fact as most Arch users I suggest you learn that way as well. This is just a cool program for making things a little easier.

One of the coolest parts (and this drove me insane on APT based systems): pkgbrowser doesnt lock pacman- you can have it open with a terminal open and use them side by side. With APT, I couldnt invoke commands from the cli if Synaptic was open, while with pkgbrowser thats not an issue.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-28 05:51:25

Packman frontend

#2 2011-07-28 05:54:55

Re: Packman frontend

#3 2011-07-28 05:56:52

Re: Packman frontend

#4 2011-07-28 05:58:35

Re: Packman frontend

#5 2011-07-28 06:00:55

Re: Packman frontend

#6 2011-07-28 06:18:12

Re: Packman frontend

#7 2011-07-28 06:41:15

Re: Packman frontend

#8 2011-07-28 07:01:30

Re: Packman frontend

#9 2011-07-28 10:45:59

Re: Packman frontend

#10 2011-07-28 10:58:12

Re: Packman frontend

#11 2011-07-28 22:36:35

Re: Packman frontend

#12 2011-07-28 22:40:52

Re: Packman frontend

#13 2011-07-29 10:24:53

Re: Packman frontend

#14 2011-07-29 11:40:36

Re: Packman frontend

#15 2011-07-30 03:45:06

Re: Packman frontend

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