Introduction
Arch User Repository (AUR) is a community-driven repository of software packages for Arch Linux. It is a great resource for finding and installing software unavailable in the official Arch Linux repositories. However, if you are an Ubuntu user, you may wonder if using AUR on your system is possible. The answer is yes; running AUR on Ubuntu is possible; in this guide, we will show you how to do it.
However, installing packages from the AUR can be more complicated than installing packages from the official Ubuntu repositories. This is because packages from the AUR need to be compiled from the source, which can take longer and may require additional dependencies.
The method we will be using to run AUR on Ubuntu is called the “AUR helpers” method. AUR helpers are programs that help automate downloading and installing of packages from AUR. Several AUR helpers are available for Linux, such as Yaourt and Pacaur, but in this guide, we will be using the popular AUR helper, “yay”.
Prerequisites
- Before we begin, there are a few prerequisites you’ll need to have in place:
- Ubuntu 18.04 or higher installed on your system.
- Git Package: The git package is installed on your system. If you don’t have it installed, you can install it by running the following command:
- Base-devil Package group: This group includes the development tools and libraries required to build packages from the AUR. You can install this group of packages by running the following command:
- With these prerequisites in place, we can now move on to the main steps of the tutorial.
Step 1: Install an AUR Helper
The first step in running the Arch Linux AUR on Ubuntu is to install an AUR helper. AUR helpers are command-line tools that make it easy to search for, download and install packages from the AUR. Several AUR helpers are available, but in this tutorial, we’ll be using Yay.
To install Yay, open a terminal window and run the following commands:
This will download the Yay source code from the AUR and compile it on your system. Once the compilation is complete, Yay will be installed on your system.
Step 2: Configure Yay
Before we can start using Yay, we need to configure it. Yay uses the Pacman package manager to install packages from the AUR, so we must tell it to use Pacman instead of the Ubuntu package manager.
To do this, open the Yay configuration file by running the following command:
Add the following lines to the file:
Save and close the file.
Step 3: Search for and Install Packages
Now that Yay is installed and configured, we can search for and install packages from the AUR. To search for a package, run the following command:
Replace “package-name” with the package name you want to search for. Yay will search the AUR for packages that match the given name and display a results list. Once you’ve found the package you want to install, run the following command:
Again, replace “package-name” with the name of the package you want to install. Yay will download the package from the AUR, compile it, and install it on your system.
Step 4: Update Packages
To keep your installed packages up-to-date, you’ll need to update them regularly. To update packages installed from the AUR using Yay, run the following command:
This will update all packages on your system, including packages installed from the AUR.