Unified Package Management

Single Package Manager for All Software

Pacman, Arch’s primary package manager, along with AUR helpers like pikaur, handles all software installations, updates, and removals. This unified system manages both official repository packages and those from the Arch User Repository (AUR), including software typically installed via language-specific package managers like pip.

• Unified Updates: With a single command (pikaur -Syu), users can update all installed packages, ensuring the entire system is up-to-date without juggling multiple package managers.

• Simplified Maintenance: This approach simplifies system maintenance and reduces the complexity often associated with managing different package managers for different types of software.

Comprehensive Software Availability

One of Arch Linux’s strengths is its vast software availability:

• Official Repositories and AUR: Users can generally assume that any desired software is available as an Arch package—either in the official repositories or through the AUR.

• Wide Range of Software: This includes exotic and commercial software like Spotify, Balena Etcher, CLion, Visual Studio Code, and Synology Drive.

Integration of Proprietary Software into Arch Package Management

A significant advantage of Arch’s package management is its ability to integrate proprietary software into the system’s package management, even when such software is only officially distributed in foreign package formats like .deb. This is achieved through the AUR, where these packages are repackaged to become native Arch packages managed by pacman.

By repackaging proprietary software into Arch-compatible packages, users avoid installing software through external installers or scripts that bypass the package manager. Each individual file within these repackaged packages is explicitly tracked and managed by pacman, ensuring precise system control and preventing fragmentation. This means that every installed file can be consistently monitored, avoiding the inconsistencies that arise when software is installed outside the package manager.

Example: Visual Studio Code

The AUR package for Visual Studio Code repackages the official binaries provided by Microsoft into an Arch package:

❯ pikaur -Si visual-studio-code-bin
AUR Git URL     : https://aur.archlinux.org/visual-studio-code-bin.git
AUR Web URL     : https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/visual-studio-code-bin
Name            : visual-studio-code-bin
Version         : 1.94.2-1
Description     : Visual Studio Code (vscode): Editor for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications (official binary version)
URL             : https://code.visualstudio.com/
Licenses        : custom: commercial
Depends On      : libxkbfile  gnupg  gtk3  libsecret  nss  gcc-libs  libnotify  libxss  glibc  lsof  shared-mime-info  xdg-utils  alsa-lib
Optional Deps   : glib2  libdbusmenu-glib  org.freedesktop.secrets  icu69
Conflicts With  : code
Votes           : 1459
Popularity      : 15.285375

The PKGBUILD script specifies the official download URL and repackages it:

source_x86_64=(code_x64_${pkgver}.tar.gz::https://update.code.visualstudio.com/${pkgver}/linux-x64/stable)

Example: Synology Drive

Similarly, the AUR package for Synology Drive Client repackages the official .deb installer provided by Synology into an Arch package:

pkgname="synology-drive"
pkgver="3.5.1_16101"
pkgrel="1"
pkgdesc="Drive for PC, the desktop utility of the DSM add-on package, Drive, allows you to sync and share files owned by you or shared by others between a centralized Synology NAS and multiple client computers."
arch=('x86_64')
url="https://www.synology.com"
license=('custom')
depends=('glibc')
optdepends=('nautilus: For nautilus integration')
source_x86_64=(https://global.download.synology.com/download/Utility/SynologyDriveClient/${pkgver%-*}-${pkgver##*_}/Ubuntu/Installer/synology-drive-client-${pkgver##*_}.x86_64.deb)
sha256sums_x86_64=('55e4b96cf70c3382430921f9197925e0e8108eb3ca68d0e1e4f7d7dbcff3a9a5')

package() {
    cd "${srcdir}"
    tar -xJf data.tar.xz -C "${pkgdir}"
    install -Dm 644 "${pkgdir}/opt/Synology/SynologyDrive/LICENSE.txt" "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/${pkgname}/LICENSE"
}

In both cases, the software is obtained directly from the official sources, ensuring authenticity. The key advantage is that these proprietary applications are repackaged in such a way that every individual file is monitored and managed by pacman. This allows for consistent tracking, updating, and removal using the package manager, which contrasts with other distributions where installing such software might involve using external installers or scripts that bypass the native package manager. This approach effectively prevents system fragmentation and maintains precise file tracking and management.

Open Source Projects and Building from Source

For open-source projects that might only provide packages in foreign formats (e.g., .deb or .rpm), Arch’s PKGBUILD scripts often build the software from source.