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0 points5e92cb50239222b4y ago0 comments

(Almost) nobody is using Arch Linux on servers, but I find its package system to be very good (not surprising since it was mostly copied from BSD ports).

A few random examples (not the best you could find, just something I've used recently):

- re-packaging pre-built binaries:

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=visua...

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=nomad...

- building C from source

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=tinc-...

- building Go from source

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=yay

- patching and building a kernel

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=linux...

0 comments

messe4y ago

Alpine (apk) and Void (xbps) have similarly nice packaging systems.

Topgamer74y ago

I was having problems building wine. So I used the arch pkgbuild and just didn't do the install phase. Made compiling pretty simple. And all the outputs are nicely defined in the aur repo locally.

curt154y ago

Does Arch support installing multiple versions of libraries?

tomjakubowski4y ago

Yes, but only if they're packaged separately. PKGBUILD is easy, so it takes very little effort to repackage older library versions under a new name (and patch dependents to use the new name) if you need them.

KingMachiavelli4y ago

Not really. There are a few applications that can be installed because the install path different for each version, things like Java support this. But libraries like glibc, etc. are tied to one version so anytime those libraries change it triggers a rebuild of many packages.

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