How to download a package without installation in Arch Linux and Manjaro. How to download the AUR package source code

How to download a package with pacman (from standard repositories)

To download a package without installing it, use the -w option:

sudo pacman -Sw PACKAGE

By default, the package will be downloaded to pacman's package cache directory, with the --cachedir option you can specify any other directory to save the package to:

sudo pacman -Sw --cachedir DIRECTORY PACKAGE

For example, the following command will download the iw package installation file to the current directory (--cachedir .):

sudo pacman -Sw --cachedir . iw

How to download an installation package and source code from the AUR

See also:

• Automatic installation and update of AUR packages
• How to view package information in Arch Linux (BlackArch, Manjaro)

Packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR) are not so simple, since there are no ready-made installation packages in the AUR. Instead of installation packages, the AUR necessarily contains PKGBUILD files, which contain commands for building the package to be installed. In addition to the PKGBUILD file, other necessary files may also be present, such as patches for modifying the source code. Source code files and binaries are usually absent from the AUR repositories, instead, links and commands for downloading all necessary files and source code are written in the PKGBUILD file.

Therefore, there may be several options for downloading AUR packages:

• package repository (PKGBUILD file and other related files)
• all files needed to build the package (source code files and other files downloaded in PKGBUILD)
• a ready-to-install package that is not available elsewhere and is built directly on the user's computer

Let's consider all these situations.

How to download the AUR repository

To download (clone) a repository from the AUR, you need to know its URL. The repository address can be viewed with a command like:

pikaur-Si PACKAGE

For example:

pikaur -Si deadbeef-git

In the output of the previous command, notice the line “AUR Git URL”:

AUR Git URL     : https://aur.archlinux.org/deadbeef-git.git

To download (clone) use the following command:

git clone AUR_GIT_URL

For example:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/deadbeef-git.git

How to download AUR source code

Consider the following problem:

I need to change the source code in the program (meaning not the PKGBUILD file). How to download source files and unzip them?

To download the source code, you need to start by cloning the AUR repository, for this you need to know its URL. The repository address can be viewed with a command like:

pikaur-Si PACKAGE

For example:

pikaur -Si deadbeef-git

In the output of the previous command, notice the line “AUR Git URL”:

AUR Git URL     : https://aur.archlinux.org/deadbeef-git.git

To download (clone) use the following command:

git clone AUR_GIT_URL

For example:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/deadbeef-git.git

Go to the folder with the downloaded repository

cd deadbeef-git/

To download and extract files, use the following command:

makepkg -o

If you want to skip dependency checking, then add the -d option:

makepkg -od

The result of the previous commands will be to download the source code files needed to build the setup file from the AUR.

You can edit the files to suit your needs, and then build the installation file and install the package from it with the following command:

makepkg -si

If, as a result of your actions, the package cannot be built due to a checksum mismatch, then use the following options:

  --nocheck        Do not run the check() function in the PKGBUILD
  --skipchecksums  Do not verify checksums of the source files
  --skipinteg      Do not perform any verification checks on source files
  --skippgpcheck   Do not verify source files with PGP signatures

How to download the installation file from the AUR

As mentioned above, this is a slightly incorrect formulation of the problem, since the installation files are missing in the AUR.

To get the installation file, use the following set of commands:

git clone AUR_GIT_URL
cd PACKAGE_DIRECTORY
makepkg -s

For example, downloading the source code, compiling the program, and building the installation package for deadbeef-git:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/deadbeef-git.git
cd deadbeef-git/
makepkg -s

The command completed without errors:

As a result of the command, a file with the *.pkg.tar.zst extension was created (in this case, it is deadbeef-git-r10944.4469d86c7-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst):