6 ms·

Unfortunately lots of things one actually wants are on AUR, things like jpeginfo, golly, steam-fonts, simple-mtpfs, jslint, ... A case for putting more things

Unfortunately lots of things one actually wants are on AUR, things like jpeginfo, golly, steam-fonts, simple-mtpfs, jslint, ... A case for putting more things in the main Archlinux repositories!

xiii1408 8y ago
My understanding is some things (e.g. Google Chrome, Google and Microsoft fonts) can't be put in the main Arch Linux repos for copyright reasons.
- arendtio 8y ago
  I wonder how other distributions solve that situation.
  - Foxboron 8y ago
    Distributing them as repackaged binaries would be against the terms. I'm unsure what distros ignores the terms and packages them anyway. It is a clear liability for any larger distributions at least.
  - blfr 8y ago
    By being popular enough to have providers package the software for them. For example, Chrome is available from a repo maintained by Google itself. https://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ https://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ OTOH, you're basically giving Google root access to your machine.
  - Hello71 8y ago
    Either ignore them (Ubuntu) or they just don't. For many years Debian and Fedora didn't have MP3 decoder installed by default.
- bscphil 8y ago
  Chromium and Google's Roboto and Noto fonts are all in the official repos.
  - xiii1408 8y ago
    Yeah, Chromium, which is FOSS, not Google Chrome, and Google Noto Fonts, which are also FOSS. Anything proprietary can't simply be copied over and mirrored for copyright reasons.
Foxboron 8y ago
What packages would you like to se inn our repositories?
- Aardwolf 8y ago
  Imho, especially things that are important solutions to common things on the Archwiki but are AUR, indicated with the AUR superscript there. For example for MTP: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Media_Transfer_Protocol https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Media_Transfer_Protocol The one that worked most stable for me was simple-mtpfs, but it's AUR. It happens with other archwiki topics too, I encounter it regularly though can't think of good examples from the top of my head currently. E.g. the btrfs article mentions several AUR utilities though admittedly nothing important I need right now :) And then some important development tools, like closure-compiler https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/closure-compiler/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/closure-compiler/
  - Foxboron 8y ago
    >simple-mtpfs Not maintained (last commit in 2016). So that will be something low on the priority list. >btrfs The dedupe tool looks interesting. Noted on my todo. >closure-compiler Was dropped from the repository. Probably because of the lack of an maintainer.
    - Aardwolf 8y ago
      > Not maintained (last commit in 2016). So that will be something low on the priority list. I see! Time for me to start looking for a new method of transfering files from android then, thanks for the heads up
      - Aelius 8y ago
        Honestly I've always found MTP to be incredibly slow and sometimes unreliable. I personally just install termux, which allows you to install openssh. Run sshd and then you can use rsync or scp or sshfs or other from the host PC.

Unfortunately lots of things one actually wants are on AUR, things like jpeginfo, golly, steam-fonts, simple-mtpfs, jslint, ... A case for putting more things in the main Archlinux repositories!

xiii1408 8y ago

My understanding is some things (e.g. Google Chrome, Google and Microsoft fonts) can't be put in the main Arch Linux repos for copyright reasons.

arendtio 8y ago
I wonder how other distributions solve that situation.
- Foxboron 8y ago
  Distributing them as repackaged binaries would be against the terms. I'm unsure what distros ignores the terms and packages them anyway. It is a clear liability for any larger distributions at least.
- blfr 8y ago
  By being popular enough to have providers package the software for them. For example, Chrome is available from a repo maintained by Google itself. https://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ https://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ OTOH, you're basically giving Google root access to your machine.
- Hello71 8y ago
  Either ignore them (Ubuntu) or they just don't. For many years Debian and Fedora didn't have MP3 decoder installed by default.
bscphil 8y ago
Chromium and Google's Roboto and Noto fonts are all in the official repos.
- xiii1408 8y ago
  Yeah, Chromium, which is FOSS, not Google Chrome, and Google Noto Fonts, which are also FOSS. Anything proprietary can't simply be copied over and mirrored for copyright reasons.

Foxboron 8y ago

What packages would you like to se inn our repositories?

Aardwolf 8y ago
Imho, especially things that are important solutions to common things on the Archwiki but are AUR, indicated with the AUR superscript there. For example for MTP: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Media_Transfer_Protocol https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Media_Transfer_Protocol The one that worked most stable for me was simple-mtpfs, but it's AUR. It happens with other archwiki topics too, I encounter it regularly though can't think of good examples from the top of my head currently. E.g. the btrfs article mentions several AUR utilities though admittedly nothing important I need right now :) And then some important development tools, like closure-compiler https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/closure-compiler/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/closure-compiler/
- Foxboron 8y ago
  >simple-mtpfs Not maintained (last commit in 2016). So that will be something low on the priority list. >btrfs The dedupe tool looks interesting. Noted on my todo. >closure-compiler Was dropped from the repository. Probably because of the lack of an maintainer.
  - Aardwolf 8y ago
    > Not maintained (last commit in 2016). So that will be something low on the priority list. I see! Time for me to start looking for a new method of transfering files from android then, thanks for the heads up
    - Aelius 8y ago
      Honestly I've always found MTP to be incredibly slow and sometimes unreliable. I personally just install termux, which allows you to install openssh. Run sshd and then you can use rsync or scp or sshfs or other from the host PC.