The official repositories of Arch Linux and its derivatives offer a lot of software that is always updated, but not everything is found in them. By a different fate than the derivatives in Debian, which practically everything is in.deb format, AUR exists, and it is said that if a program is not in AUR it does not exist for Linux. The question here is: how is AUR software managed? In this article we are going to talk to you about the options of Yay and Pamac.
I know they are not the same, but they have things in common. Pamac is installed by default in Manjaro, and is also the name given to its software store. But they are two of the most used tools to install software from the Arch User Repository, and here we are going to explain how each one is used.
Commands to manage AUR software: Yay vs. Pamac
Before we can continue, we must explain the commands to install each of the packages, in both cases the same, only changing the name, which would remain sudo pacman -S yay for one and sudo pacman -S pamac the other.
An article like this can be very long. I could write a paragraph for each command, but wouldn't more direct, easy-to-reference information be better? I think so, and the best way I can think of is through a table like the following:
| ACTION | YAY | PAMAC |
|---|---|---|
| Search | yay -Ss package_name | pamac search package_name |
| Install | yay -S package_name | pamac install package_name |
| Install package group | yay -S group_name | pamac install group_name |
| Delete | yay -R package_name | pamac remove package_name |
| Remove package and dependencies | yay -Rns package_name | pamac remove package_name && pamac autoremove |
| Remove orphans | yay -Rns $(yay -Qdtq) | pamac remove -o |
| Update all | yay -Syu | pamac update |
| Update a package | yay -Syu package_name | pamac upgrade package_name |
| Details | yay -Yes package_name | pamac info package_name |
| Clear cache | yay -Sc | pamac clean |
| List installed packages | yay -Q | pamac list |
| List dependencies | yay -Qi package_name | pamac list –required-by package_name |
| Show outdated packages | yay -wha | pamac outdated |
From the above, we must bear in mind that we must change "package_name" or "group_name" with the names of the packages or groups with which we want to work. And be careful with commands such as cleaning the cache, it is recommended to keep some just in case (for example, "clean –keep 3" to keep the last three versions of a package).
To consider
As you can see, many of the flags used by Yay are exactly the same as those used by pacman, the official Arch Linux package manager. But I recommend using pacman to manage software from official repositories and Yay as AUR's assistant. Of course, everyone is free to act as they see fit.
It is also important to make clear that both are programs that also allow you to manage software from official repositories, as I just mentioned. For users of an Arch-based distribution other than Manjaro, using one wizard or the other (or another, of course) should be a personal decision based on preferences or experiences, but in Manjaro it's different. Pamac is installed by default, and although you can install Yay and use it, my recommendation in this case is to use pacman for the official repositories and Pamac for AUR.
That is if you want to do the procedures through the terminal. If you prefer the store with a graphical interface, then everything with Pamac.
About AUR
Separate section for AUR, which is the acronym for Arch User Repository. It is a good alternative to installing software, but it has to stay there, in "alternative." Whenever possible, things should be installed from official repositories, and this is valid for any Linux distribution unless they offer us something less updated and we want the latest.
In AUR we can find everything, But it is uploaded by the community, not Arch Linux or anyone directly related. To give some examples, it is Spottube compiled and maintained by its own developer, but many other programs are uploaded by volunteers.
In addition to the fact that a collaborator can make a small mistake that causes a package to not work in our case, much of what is in AUR it has to be compiled. It is true that using tools like Pamac or Yay everything is automatic, but the time will always be the same. What I mean by this is that if the use of AUR gets out of hand, there may be cases where updating the entire operating system takes longer than it should because it has to compile several programs.
By the way, although can be less safe, anything ending in -bin is precompiled.
And this would be all. I'll stick with Pamac, but many Arch base users I know prefer Yay. What is your preference?