Guides and tutorials for Manjaro: The Arch User Repository (AUR)

Although Manjaro is compatible to Arch --being based on Arch itself-- it is not possible to access the official repositories of the Arch System to download software. 

Manjaro instead uses its own official repositories in order to ensure that any software packages provided (e.g., system updates and applications) have been fully tested and are completely stable before release.

However, it is still possible to access additional software packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR), which is managed by the Arch community of users themselves. Although this repository is unofficial, software packages first placed here are known to make their way into Arch's official repositories if they become popular enough. A guide on how to Access the AUR has been provided.

Arch User Repository.

Although Manjaro is very close to Arch Linux and mostly compatible —being based on Arch Linux itself— it is not possible to access their official repositories for use in Manjaro. Instead, Manjaro uses its own repositories in order to ensure that any software packages that are accessible, such as system updates and applications, have been fully tested to be compatible and stable before release. It is still possible to access additional software packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR).

The AUR is managed by the Arch Linux user community itself. Although this repository is unofficial, software packages first placed here can eventually make their way into Arch Linux's official (community) repository if they become popular enough.

AUR, as a community maintained repository, present potential risks and problems.

Possible risks using AUR packages.

• Multiple versions of the same packages.
• Out of date packages.
• Broken or only partially working packages.
• Improperly configured packages which download unnecessary dependencies, or do not download necessary dependencies, or both.
• Malicious packages (although extremely rare).
• As such, although much of the software packages provided by the AUR should work, do not expect the installation process to always be quite as straight-forward as when you are using the official Manjaro repositories.

On occasion, it may be necessary to manually identify and install dependencies yourself (such as, after an aborted installation attempt).

Again, there is no guarantee that any installed software will work properly, if at all.

Info.

You should become familiar with the manual build process in order to be prepared to troubleshoot problems.

Accessing the AUR.

Using GUI Pamac.

Open Pamac - the name in menu is Add/Remove Software and navigate to the Preferences page. You will be required to enter your password to access it.At Preferences page → select the Third Party tab → and move the slider to enable AUR support. Be sure you have the necessary files for building applications from source

user $ pamac install base-devel gitCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

Using commandline Pamac

Info.

It is strongly recommended to follow this link AUR website and examine the relevant page(s) for any and all software intended to be installed.

These pages contain comments from both existing users and package developers, which may provide valuable information (such as, warnings and/or solutions to problems). To search for and install software packages from the AUR, the syntax is:

user $ pamac search -a [software package name]COPY TO CLIPBOARD

For example, if wishing to install Google Chrome - first follow this link to all Google Chrome build scripts and verify which package you want to build.Or you can ask pamac - for Google Chrome candidates. Just use the search command and Google Chrome as the query. Look over the results or narrow the search parameters - just remember pamac cannot tell you of any issues with build scripts - only the relevant page. E.g. following this link to the buildscript for Google Chrome

user $ pamac search Google ChromeCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

In the example we choose the standard version of Google Chrome. To build the google-chrome package with pamac enter the following and press enter

user $ pamac build google-chromeCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

You will be presented with the outcome of the chosen build with all dependencies and you will be asked a couple of questions.

Query to edit build files. This is a precaution to verify that the build scripts does not contain malicious actions.

Query to continue download and install dependencies then download the sources, build and install the app.

You will be asked for your password before anything happens.

Using GUI Octopi.

See this guide for enabling AUR support in Octopi.

• Installing from the AUR by hand.
• Manual.
• To do that follow the steps given below:
• Be sure you have the necessary files for building applications from source
• user $ pamac install base-devel gitCOPY TO CLIPBOARD
• Clone the PKGBUILD

user $ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/google-chrome.gitCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

Change directory to cloned folder

user $ cd google-chromeCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

To make/compile the package, run:

user $ makepkg -sCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

This will build the package and pull in any dependencies needed. Note: it won't pull a dependency from the AUR, only from the Manjaro Repos.. If you list the folder content

user $ lsCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

you'll probably find a few new files. You're interested in the one that ends with .pkg.tar.zst

The final event is running $sudo pacman -U on that file

user $ sudo pacman -U google-chrome-ver.rel.bugfix.build-pkgrel.pkg.zstCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

And you've done it...the safest way to install from the AUR. This is essentially what most install scripts do for you.

Note: Instead of using sudo pacman -U google-chrome-ver.rel.bugfix.build-pkgrel.pkg.zst can also use:

user $ makepkg -iCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

Note: To combine above steps into one:

user $ makepkg -isCOPY TO CLIPBOARD

Upgrading the packages installed from the AUR.

The following command will upgrade all packages on the system including AUR builds

user $ pamac upgrade -a