Warning: AUR helpers are not supported by Arch Linux. You should become familiar with the AUR helpers areby Arch Linux. You should become familiar with the manual build process in order to be prepared to troubleshoot problems.

Note: Please use the discussion page to suggest edits to this article: Please use the discussion page to suggest edits to this article: Talk:AUR helpers

AUR helpers automate usage of the Arch User Repository. In particular, they may automate the following tasks:

searching for packages published on the AUR;

resolving of dependencies between AUR packages;

retrieve and build AUR packages;

retrieve web content, such as user comments;

submission of AUR packages.

Pacman only handles updates for pre-built packages in its repositories. AUR packages are redistributed in form of PKGBUILDs and need an AUR helper to automate the re-build process. However, keep in mind that a rebuild of package may be required when its shared library dependencies are updated, not only when the package itself is updated.

Legend

The #Comparison tables columns have the following meaning:

File review Does not source the PKGBUILD at all by default; or, alerts the user and offers the opportunity to inspect the PKGBUILD manually before it is sourced. Some helpers are known to source PKGBUILDs before the user can inspect them, allowing malicious code to be executed. Diff view Ability to view package differences on inspection. Besides the PKGBUILD, this includes changes to files such as .install or .patch files. Git clone Uses by default to retrieve build files from the AUR. Reliable parser Ability to handle complex packages by using the provided metadata (RPC/.SRCINFO) instead of PKGBUILD parsing, such as AUR . Reliable solver Ability to correctly solve and build complex dependency chains, such as AUR . Split packages Ability to correctly build and install: Multiple packages from the same package base, without rebuilding or reinstalling multiple times, such as AUR

Split packages which depend on a package from the same package base, such as AUR and AUR .

and . Split packages independently, such as AUR and AUR .

Shell completion Tab completion is available for the listed shells.

Note: Optional means that a feature is available, but only through a command-line argument or configuration option.

means that a feature is available, but only through a command-line argument or configuration option. Partial means that a feature is not fully implemented, or that it partially deviates from the given criteria.

Comparison tables

Search and download

Name Written in Git clone Reliable parser Reliable solver Shell completion Specificity AUR C++ Yes Yes Yes bash print build order AUR Python Yes Yes – – – AUR Go No Yes – zsh local repository AUR Bash Optional Yes – bash –

Search and build

Name Written in File review Diff view Git clone Reliable parser Reliable solver Split packages Shell completion Specificity AUR Bash Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes bash, zsh local repository, package signing, clean chroot AUR Python Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes bash, zsh bb-wrapper for pacman wrapping, trust management AUR Python No No Yes Yes Yes Partial – pb for pacman wrapping AUR Bash No Yes Yes No No No – local repository AUR Rust Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes bash, zsh, fish local patch application, bubblewrap, .pkg.tar inspection

Pacman wrappers

Warning: wrappers abstract the work of the package manager. They may (optionally or by default) introduce wrappers abstract the work of the package manager. They may (optionally or by default) introduce unsafe flags , or other unexpected behavior leading to a defective system.

Note: The following pacman wrappers support batch (rather than on-demand) operations: AUR , AUR , AUR , AUR

Name Written in File review Diff view Git clone Reliable parser Reliable solver Split packages Unsafe flags Shell completion Specificity AUR Haskell No Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes – bash, fish, zsh – AUR Bash Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes --ask bash, zsh – AUR Nim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -Sy bash, zsh fetch PGP keys AUR Python Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -Sy bash, fish, zsh dynamic users AUR Perl Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial – bash, fish, zsh – AUR Go Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -Sy*

--ask* bash, fish, zsh fetch PGP keys

Graphical

Warning: Usage of graphical AUR helpers may lead to a defective system, for example through unattended Usage of graphical AUR helpers may lead to a defective system, for example through unattended partial upgrades

Argon — GTK 3 pacman wrapper written in Python.

Cylon — TUI pacman wrapper written in Bash.

Pamac — Standalone GTK 3 package manager using written in Vala.

Pakku GUI — GTK 3 frontend for pakku written in Python.

PkgBrowser — Qt 5 read-only browser for repository packages and AUR written in Python.

Octopi — Qt 5 pacman wrapper written in C++.

Yup — Curses TUI pacman wrapper written in Go.

Maintenance

aur-out-of-date — Uses hoster APIs to check AUR packages for upstream changes.

aurpublish — Helper script to manage and upload AUR packages using . Uses to verify the PKGBUILD integrity, generate .SRCINFO automatically, and create a commit message template.

devtools — Build packages in a clean environment (systemd-nspawn container) to ensure their correctness. Wrapped by AUR and AUR .

pkgbuild-watch — Looks for changes on the upstream web pages.

pkgoutofdate — Parses the source URL from PKGBUILDs and tries to find new versions of packages by incrementing the version number and sending requests to the web server.

Other

aur-talk — Fetch and display AUR comments.

aurvote-utils — A set of utilities for managing AUR votes.

haskell-aur — Haskell library for accessing Aurweb RPC interface.

package-query — Tool for querying and the AUR.

python3-aur — Python 3 modules and helper utilities for accessing AUR package information and automating AUR interactions.