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And the AUR is largely possible because of pacman. Debian and RPM packages are very complex, and take a lot of effort to build, so even if there was a large col

And the AUR is largely possible because of pacman. Debian and RPM packages are very complex, and take a lot of effort to build, so even if there was a large collection of package source files available, downloading and building them is not an especially efficient solution for getting fresh software. Whereas pacman packages are simple enough that an arbitrary package can be built using a single (admittedly quite large) shell script from another single source file.

ch0wn 15y ago
This is a very important point. The learning curve for building Arch packages with pacman is ridiculously low compared with RPM or Debian packages. My biggest grief back when I used Arch was the missing support for signed packages. Has there been any work in that direction in the meantime?
- 286c8cb04bda 15y ago
  There's been significant progress in that direction. Package signing[1] is the major new feature in pacman 4[2]. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing [2] http://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git/tree/NEWS http://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git/tree/NEWS
- gilgad13 15y ago
  Yes, they just added it. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing Its been a bit of a headache for me, but that's mostly because I can't just blindly `pacman -Syu` through the update.
- Nic0 15y ago
  Allan McRae (pacman developer) done some good writing about the signing package of Pacman on his blog, in three parts. - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-1-makepkg-and-repo-add/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-1-makep... - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-2-pacman-key/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-2-pacma... - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-3-pacman/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-3-pacma...
- spystath 15y ago
  AFAIK, The next version of pacman will support package signing. I suppose signed packages should begin to appear in the repositories as soon as pacman 4.0 is out.
  - adestefan 15y ago
    It's already in -testing.
- wazoox 15y ago
  How is it difficult to build a Debian package? I often make quick'n'dirty debian packages by hand. In a directory (let's say /tmp/PKG) put all your files in the proper tree (/tmp/PKG/usr/local/bin, etc); then create a DEBIAN folder (/tmp/PKG/DEBIAN) with a control file in it. The control file structure is quite straightforward. You can add preinst, postinst, prerm and postrm scripts as needed (in whatever language you fancy, sh, perl, etc) too. And that's about it, dpkg -b /tmp/PKG mypackage.deb.
  - foomanchu 15y ago
    Try backporting a package that depends on packages whose versions are older in the target release. It is a real nightmare and the packages themselves already exist. This is the most common use case I encounter that it much better handled by Arch.
bcl 15y ago
Small correction, rpm can be complex, but a basic package is really easy. A few lines of package.spec file an a tarball of the package source. rpmbuild or mock handle all the grunt work of building the actual package and making a repo is as simple as running createrepo.

ch0wn 15y ago

This is a very important point. The learning curve for building Arch packages with pacman is ridiculously low compared with RPM or Debian packages. My biggest grief back when I used Arch was the missing support for signed packages. Has there been any work in that direction in the meantime?

286c8cb04bda 15y ago
There's been significant progress in that direction. Package signing[1] is the major new feature in pacman 4[2]. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing [2] http://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git/tree/NEWS http://projects.archlinux.org/pacman.git/tree/NEWS
gilgad13 15y ago
Yes, they just added it. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_signing Its been a bit of a headache for me, but that's mostly because I can't just blindly `pacman -Syu` through the update.
Nic0 15y ago
Allan McRae (pacman developer) done some good writing about the signing package of Pacman on his blog, in three parts. - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-1-makepkg-and-repo-add/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-1-makep... - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-2-pacman-key/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-2-pacma... - http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-3-pacman/ http://allanmcrae.com/2011/08/pacman-package-signing-3-pacma...
spystath 15y ago
AFAIK, The next version of pacman will support package signing. I suppose signed packages should begin to appear in the repositories as soon as pacman 4.0 is out.
- adestefan 15y ago
  It's already in -testing.
wazoox 15y ago
How is it difficult to build a Debian package? I often make quick'n'dirty debian packages by hand. In a directory (let's say /tmp/PKG) put all your files in the proper tree (/tmp/PKG/usr/local/bin, etc); then create a DEBIAN folder (/tmp/PKG/DEBIAN) with a control file in it. The control file structure is quite straightforward. You can add preinst, postinst, prerm and postrm scripts as needed (in whatever language you fancy, sh, perl, etc) too. And that's about it, dpkg -b /tmp/PKG mypackage.deb.
- foomanchu 15y ago
  Try backporting a package that depends on packages whose versions are older in the target release. It is a real nightmare and the packages themselves already exist. This is the most common use case I encounter that it much better handled by Arch.

bcl 15y ago

Small correction, rpm can be complex, but a basic package is really easy. A few lines of package.spec file an a tarball of the package source. rpmbuild or mock handle all the grunt work of building the actual package and making a repo is as simple as running createrepo.