aurx

The Archlinux User Repository eXplorer.

Motivation

This script strides to be a lightweight AUR helper that takes on AUR-related tasks and nothing more.
It also offers the freedom to manipulate and keep track of all kinds of sources: self maintained or online ones. Theoretically it could be expanded to offer upload functionality to AUR.

Installation

git clone [email protected]:mvtab/aurx.git
cd aurx/
chmod +111 ./aurx

# Optional.

## Soft link.
ln -sf ${PWD}/aurx ~/bin/aurx

## Completion.
source <(aurx completion bash)

Usage

aurx [OPERATION] [OPTION..] [PACKAGE..]

Requirements

install | update

binary	package
awk	gawk
curl	curl
echo	coreutils
git	git
grep	grep
jq	jq
makepkg	pacman
sed	sed
tee	coreutils
debugedit	debugedit
fakeroot	fakeroot
strip	binutils

remove

binary	package
grep	grep
pacman	pacman
sed	sed

search

binary	package
curl	curl
echo	coreutils
jq	jq

completion

binary	package
curl	curl
echo	coreutils
jq	jq

Operations

operation	description
install	designated option for comfortably managing custom sources.
remove	Remove packages from system and the package list.
update	designated option for installing online packages using /tmp as workdir.
search	query the AUR with specific criterias and keywords via RPC.
completion	generate completion for the specified shell.

Configuration

Environment variables

Capitalized long option names with AURX_ prefix. For example for --search-criteria: AURX_SEARCH_CRITERIA.

General

option	description	default	values
-a, --all	Include all installed packages.	false	true, false
-f, --force	Forces the current operation, if appliable.	false	true, false
-h, --help	Display usage and exit.	N/A	N/A
-p, --persistent-path	Where to save persistent information.	${HOME}/.aurx/cfg	any path
-s, --source-path	Work directory.	${HOME}/.aurx/src	any path
-v, --verbosity	Verbosity: 0 - none, 1 - stderr, 2 - all	2	0, 1, 2

Install

option	description	default	values
-c, --cleanup	Delete sources after successful installs.	false	true, false
-C, --clean-operation	Delete sources after unsuccessful installs.	false	true, false
-M, --makepkg-opts	Opts to give in to makepkg installs.	'-sirc'	any makepkg opts
-d, --download-only	Only downloads the repository from AUR.	false	true, false
-V, --verify-versions	compare target versions to installed ones.	false	true, false
-w, --wipe-existing	Wipe eventually existing sources.	false	true, false
-W, --overwrite-existing	can the existing sources be overwritten	false	true, false
-x, --comparison-criteria	criteria to use when comparing packages	"rpc"	"rpc", "pkgbuild"

Remove

option	description	default	values
-R, --remove-opts	Opts to give in to pacman for removing packages.	'-R'	any pacman opts

Update

option	description	default	values
-B, --block-overwrite	Don't allow overwriting existing sources.	false	true, false
-k, --keep-sources	Don't cleanup after successful installs	false	true, false
-K, --keep-failed-sources	Don't cleanup after unsuccessful installs	false	true, false
-M, --makepkg-opts	Opts to give in to makepkg installs.	'-sirc'	any makepkg opts
-x, --comparison-criteria	criteria to use when comparing packages	"rpc"	"rpc", "pkgbuild"

Search

option	description	default	values
-r, --search-results	Number of results to display.	20	any int
-S, --search-criteria	Criteria to use in search queries.	"name"	"name", "name-desc", "maintainer", "depends", "makedepends", "optdepends", "checkdepends", "suggest"
-b, --sort-by	Key to sort results by.	"popularity"	"firstsubmitted", "lastmodified", "votes", "popularity"
-o, --order-by	How to order search results.	"descending"	"ascending", "descending"
-O, --no-out-of-date	Remove all out of date packages.	false	true, false
-m, --maintained	Only return maintained packages.	false	true, false

Completion

option	description	default	values
-e, --executable-name	The name of the executable	'aurx'	any string

Running in containers

There is a folder called containers that contains detailed instructions for running aurx in a container environment.

Non-interactive

Script can be ran noninteractively by changing the makepkg opts (-M, --makepkg-opts) to, for example, '--noconfirm -sirc'.
sudo password must be handled by the user. (see Limitations)

Examples

Install a new package or an existing source.

aurx install test

Remove a package from the system and the script's package list, with custom pacman remove flags.

aurx remove test --remove-opts '-Rsncu'

Download a package to modify before install.

aurx install test --download-only --source-path /tmp
cd /tmp/test
# modifications
cd -
aurx install test --source-path /tmp

Update a package only if the present source's version is higher than the installed one.

aurx install test --verify-versions --comparison-criteria pkgbuild

Update a package to the latest version available online and delete source after.

aurx update test
# equivalent of
aurx install test --verify-versions --overwrite-existing --cleanup --clean-operation --source-path /tmp --persistent-path ${HOME}/.aurx/cfg

Update all installed packages.

aurx update --all
# equivalent of 
aurx install --all --verify-versions --overwrite-existing --cleanup --clean-operation --source-path /tmp --persistent-path ${HOME}/.aurx/cfg

Query the AUR looking for only up to date and maintainted packages, sorting results by votes.

aurx search test --no-out-of-date --maintained --sort-by votes

Grab the all-time first 5 submitted packages of a maintainer.

aurx search FabioLolix --search-criteria maintainer --sort-by firstsubmitted --order-by ascending --search-results 5

Grab the latest 5 modified packages that have gcc as makedepends.

aurx search gcc --search-criteria makedepends --sort-by lastmodified --search-results 5

Get bash completion for custom executable name (where ${0} is not correct).

source <(aurx completion bash --executable-name aurx)

Limitations

Not intensively tested

Don't use this script's base dir as sole copy of your work.

Sudo password

This script intentionally does not handle sudo passwords in any way.

Wokarounds:
You can increase the default duration of a sudo session by changing the Defaults timestamp_timeout in /etc/sudoers.
Additionally or alternatively, you can refresh the sudo timeout every time you execute sudo by adding alias sudo='sudo -v; sudo' to your .bashrc.

Completion

Package completions are using the AUR RPC, which has a daily rate limit of 4000 requests per IP per day.
Every tab does one request.

Roadmap

Soon

• Fix directory bash completion expansion to mimic _filedir from bash completion.
• Add list operation that only reads the package list and prints it to terminal.

Not so soon

• Implement upload functionality to AUR.

Changelog

2024.09.16 Breaking changes - Default source directory changed.

While adding the --persistent-path configuration option, I also refactored and changed the default work directory for more scalability. To migrate any old data simply copy it to these locations:

sources:        ${HOME}/.aurx/src/
package_list:   ${HOME}/.aurx/cfg/package_list

Or just set the old directories with options or environment variables.