Shelly, a package manager for Arch Linux and related distributions, has released version 3.1.10 with the main change concerning AUR builds.
Shelly now discovers and installs build dependencies before the prepare() stage, including when an AUR package depends on other AUR packages, as dependency planning reads package metadata without downloading sources, executing lifecycle functions, or modifying the reviewed PKGBUILD.
The release also fixes several package recipe compatibility issues, including support for prefix and suffix trimming in quoted indexed array elements. Additionally, multiline package descriptions are now normalized when generating .PKGINFO metadata, while HTTP downloads can handle larger response headers.
Another improvement affects system upgrades. The shelly install standard --upgrade command now resolves system updates and requested repository packages within a single transaction. This fixes dependency failures when requested packages and their updated libraries must be upgraded together, even across different repositories.
Shelly 3.1.10 also improves its underlying RLPM error reporting, providing more detailed explanations for configuration problems, database locks, download failures, filesystem errors, package conflicts, and failed hooks or scriptlets. Plus, file-conflict diagnostics can now identify the affected paths and packages.
On the command-line side, the update introduces a new Shell progress bar style with an animated ASCII shell. It becomes the default for installations without a configured style, while existing preferences remain unchanged.
Moreover, a new --names-only option lets users display package names individually when listing installed or AUR packages and searching standard repositories. This makes output more suitable for scripts and shell completions. Bash, Fish, and Zsh completions now query Shelly directly instead of relying on pacman for package lists.
The desktop application also receives accessibility improvements, especially for keyboard navigation and screen readers. The first-run setup wizard now moves keyboard focus into newly displayed pages, while the Packages tab correctly distinguishes repository packages from foreign and locally installed packages.
Finally, the release updates native components and the build system to Zig 0.17, now required for compiling Shelly from source. It also adds dedicated CachyOS packaging support and adjusts Devario builds so they no longer fetch or display Arch Linux news during upgrades.
For more information, see the changelog.
