As an Arch Linux enthusiast, using the AUR repository, a key distribution asset, is essential to your skill set. Fortunately, to ease the user experience, the Arch community has developed a variety of AUR helpers, such as yay, pacaur, and aurman, among others.
These tools simplify the process of managing AUR software and can even serve as alternatives to the Pacman package manager, enhancing your overall experience. But if you still prefer to stick to the applications betting on GUI to manage the software on your Arch system, take a moment to explore this.
Also joining the ranks of AUR’s top helpers is Paru, a tool written in Rust, which has recently emerged from a considerable hiatus with its new 2.0 release. So, without further ado, let’s see what’s changed.
Paru 2.0 AUR Helper Highlights
Paru 2.0 introduces substantial changes and improvements, particularly benefiting power users, alongside general enhancements and quality-of-life updates.
However, users are advised to be cautious, as many features in this release are yet to be thoroughly battle-tested, with a minor patch (v2.0.1) expected to follow soon.
PKGBUILD Repos Integration
A standout feature in Paru 2.0 is the integration of non-AUR PKGBUILD repositories into the build engine. In other words, users can now add PKGBUILD repos to their “paru.conf” file and sync them using paru -Sy --pkgbuilds.
[repo_name]
Url = https://path/to/git/repoCode language: JavaScript (javascript)This feature allows Paru to recognize these repos as sources for PKGBUILDs, similar to the AUR, and even prioritize them over AUR packages.
Enhanced Chroot Support
The --chroot option now functions without local repos, although it performs better with them. This improvement is a significant step in ensuring cleaner, more isolated builds.
Interactive Mode Expansion
Introducing --interactive for various operations, including installation and removal, enhances user experience. This mode provides an interactive prompt for package selection, which can be piped into other commands.
Improved Provide Searching
The default “paru.conf” now enables better provide searching, a feature that users with existing configurations might want to enable manually.
Configuration and Usability Tweaks
Numerous changes have been made to improve the overall experience, such as replacing paru -U with paru -B for building multiple PKGBUILDs, and updates to handling local time zones and fallback mechanisms when certain utilities are unavailable.
Bug Fixes and Optimizations
The update also includes several bug fixes and optimizations, ranging from environment handling in chroot to the installation process of split packages and case sensitivity in AUR packages.
You can refer to the changelog for more information about all changes in the new version.
Paru’s Basic Commands
Should you choose to employ the Paru AUR helper for managing packages on your Arch Linux system, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with these fundamental commands.
- paru: This serves as a shortcut for the command
paru -Syu - paru -S <package_name>: Use this to install a specified package
- paru -Sua: This command is used for upgrading packages from the AUR
- paru -Qua: Displays a list of available updates for AUR packages
- paru -G <package_name>: Downloads the PKGBUILD and associated files for <package_name>
- paru -Gp <package_name>: Outputs the PKGBUILD of <package_name>
- paru -Gc <package_name>: Shows the AUR comments for <package_name>
- paru -Bi: Builds and installs a PKGBUILD located in the current directory
