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What package manager do you use for arch based distros? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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So I recently installed Cachyos and I am now met with this problem.

There are kind of 2 main contenders here and I'm split between them. What do you use?

There is pacman + aur and then there is flatpak. Pacman has deep system integration and is much more lightweight but it has deep system integration and requires sudo to install. flatpak has sandboxing and easy permission management but it's bloated and possibly less performant?

Of course if the package isn't available on flathub then I will have to use the aur but when both are available it's hard to decide.

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[–] 25 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Pacman plus the AUR is the move on Arch based distros. The AUR gives you access to basically everything, and paru or yay handles the build chain without pain. Flatpak has its place for apps that ship messy runtime dependencies, but for most things it adds an unnecessary isolation layer. Have you tried paru as your AUR helper yet?

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  • [–] 17 points 7 months ago

    I sometimes prefer Flatpak over AUR, because I do not trust everyone on the AUR to run scripts with root rights on my system. At least Flatpaks are a bit sandboxed (even if the sandbox is an illusion) and the programs don't install and run with root rights. Sometimes the Flatpak is from the original developer and the script in AUR is not. Or the AUR script is not updated well and often enough, unlike day one Flatpak updates. But Flatpaks do not integrate well in your system and applications can look out of place too. There is a lot to consider, besides what you already mentioned.

    I use both, prefer the AUR in optimal cases.

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