Build option in Pacman

Question

Hi there,
Sorry if this is a double post.
I know of srcpac, but have it been discussed if pacman should have an option to compile packages? It doesn't seam like a particularly big feature---I would even be willing to make it myself. If this has been discussed, what were the main arguments pro/con?
Jacob

Answer 1

Trilby wrote:As far as I know (which may not be all that far in that case - so correct me if I'm wrong) pacman doesn't have a currently built in mechanism to get PKGBUILDS.  ..... I'm quite happy to have this package, and the abs tree - but I'm also happy that I chose to install it as a separate tool.  I can't see what possible advantage merging the two packages (pacman + abs) would serve.  .....
I don't see any advantage of adding a -B option to pacman.  The advantage of separating the "build from source" functionality is (imo) greatly increased flexibility.  As others have noticed there is not much reason to just build packages from source with custom CFLAGS.  The real motivation for using the source is to control dependencies and options, and possibly to integrate mutliple upstream sources (abs, aur, ...).
For example I build everything from source using my own "build" command.  It integrates abs and aur (in fact, it optionally integrates the unity, antergos, and manjaro source repos). So for example I can "build firefox-kde-opensuse" and build an aur package.  Or "build unity" and build the unity meta-package.  All "build" knows is that it should follow a search path in a collection of "upstream buildscripts" until it finds the desired package.  A "pacman -B" option is probably not going to be that simple or allow for that integration.  ("build" also needs access to a database of packages so that it knows the "pkgbase" corresponding to any "pkgname").
To further the example:  the function for fetching the pkgbuild is
FROMDIR=""
function from() { # dir -- copy dir to Buildfolder and set FROMDIR
cp -r --no-clobber $1 "${Buildfolder}"
FROMDIR=$1
# get the Pkgbase directory into $Buildfolder and initialize the dirty Pkgbase_build
function get_pkgbuild() {
cd "${Buildfolder}"
[ -d "${Pkgbase}_build" ] && rm -rf "${Pkgbase}_build"
if [[ $REBUILD == 1 && -d $MASTER/$Pkgbase ]]; then
from "$MASTER/$Pkgbase"
cp -r "${Buildfolder}/$Pkgbase" "${Buildfolder}/${Pkgbase}_build"
return 0
fi
for repo in ${UPSTREAM[*]}; do
if [ -d $repo ]; then
cd $repo
for folder in */; do
if [[ $folder == $Pkgbase/ ]]; then
from "${repo}/${Pkgbase}"
cp -r "${Buildfolder}/$Pkgbase" "${Buildfolder}/${Pkgbase}_build"
return 0
fi
done
fi
done
return 1
Just adding directories to the UPSTREAM array gives access to abs/core, abs/extra, abs/community, aur, unity, ... whatever.
The help message for "build" may give an idea of where you may end up by following this kind of factoring that I'm recommending:
└─> build --help
A utility for Archlinux to build packages from source code.
Syntax: build options packages
Build the packages named on the command line (and packages listed in the file
using the -f option). Packages are built in the order listed. Packages named
on the command line are built after any given in a file.
Use control-c to interrupt the build then "build --resume" when ready to continue.
Options:
--rebuild Copy pkgbuilds from the master repository, ignore upstream
-c, --chroot Build packages in $MYROOT using makechrootpkg, initializing
the root with packages from the mylinux current repo (or from
Archlinux upstream if the package is not in the mylinux repo).
-f file Read package names from file. Only one file can be used.
-m, --merge Interactively merge in changes master repository.
-e, --edit Edit each PKGBUILD before building the package.
-k, --keep-going Do not stop to show namcap errors.
-L, --log Enable makepkg build logging (do not use for interactive builds).
-r, --resume Resume the previously interrupted build in this directory.
-s, --save Save the buildscript for each package (see build.conf).
-S, --src Also save the unpacked and patched source code (./src)
-h, --help Print this message.
Examples:
Compile the kernel, headers, and docs:
build -mes linux
Upgrade all packages except those in groups that are in FREEZE:
pacman -Qq | versions -qu | freeze | order | unify >upgrades
build -msLf upgrades
Best practice:
build is intentionally dumb and builds just what you ask for in the way you specify.
* always use the -s option to accumulate pkgbuilds into a local master collection
* always use the -m option to merge back into upstream any local changes
* always use the order command to get packages in correct build order
See also the help messages for:
broken freeze group need order packages pkgtree release requires
unify use versions update-package-database
I know that that is way too much info but maybe the details of an example can stimulate folks who think similarly.
Last edited by sitquietly (2013-08-05 23:59:46)