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A secure, multilingual package manager for Arch Linux and the AUR.
![](https://github.com/fosskers/aura/raw/master/logo/medium-150x150.png)
The Aura Package Manager
Welcome to the main repository for Aura, a secure, multilingual package manager for Arch Linux.
Check out The Aura Book for all knowledge and usage instructions!
If Aura has made your life easier, please consider buying me a coffee :coffee: or supporting Aura through Github Sponsors :octocat:. Your help goes a long way!
Table of Contents
-
Aura
- What is Aura?
-
The Aura Philosophy
- Aura is Pacman
- Arch is Arch - AUR is AUR
- Secure Package Building
- Downgradibility
- Arch Linux for Everyone
- Haskell
-
Installation
- Prebuilt Binaries
- Building from Source
-
Sample Usage
- Installing Packages
- Package Set Snapshots
- Downgrading via the Package Cache
- Searching the Pacman Log
- Managing Orphan Packages
- PKGBUILD Security Analysis
- Configuration
- Localisation
- Credits
-
The
aur
Haskell Library -
The
aursec
Tool
Aura
What is Aura?
Aura is a package manager for Arch Linux. Its original purpose is as an AUR helper, in that it automates the process of installing packages from the Arch User Repositories. It is, however, capable of much more.
The Aura Philosophy
Aura is Pacman
Aura doesn't just mimic pacman
; it is pacman
. All pacman
operations and
their sub-options are allowed. Some even hold special meaning in Aura as well.
Arch is Arch - AUR is AUR
-S
yields pacman packages and only pacman packages. This agrees with the
above. In Aura, the -A
operation is introduced for obtaining AUR packages.
-A
comes with sub-options you're used to (-u
, -s
, -i
, etc.).
Secure Package Building
PKGBUILDs from the AUR can contain anything. It's a user's responsibility to
verify the contents of a PKGBUILD before building, but people can make mistakes
and overlook details. Aura scans PKGBUILDs before building to detect bash misuse
and other exploits. The -P
command is also provided for scanning your own
PKGBUILDs.
Also, while pre-build PKGBUILD editing is not default behaviour, this can be
achieved with --hotedit
.
Downgradibility
Aura allows you to downgrade individual packages to previous versions with -C
.
It also handles snapshots of your entire system, so that you can roll back whole
sets of packages when problems arise. The option -B
will save a package state,
and -Br
will restore a state you select. -Su
and -Au
also invoke a save
automatically.
Arch Linux for Everyone
English is the dominant language of computing and the internet. That said, it's natural that some people are going to be more comfortable working in their native language. From the beginning, Aura has been built with multiple-language support in mind, making it very easy to add new ones.
Haskell
Aura is written in Haskell, which means easy development and beautiful code. Please feel free to use it as a Haskell reference. Aura code demonstrates:
- Parser combinators (
megaparsec
) - CLI flag handling (
optparse-applicative
) - Concurrency (
scheduler
) - Shell interaction (
typed-process
) - Pretty printing (
prettyprinter
) - Logging (
rio
) - Modern Haskell project architecture (config, CI, distribution)
Installation
Prebuilt Binaries
It is recommended to install the prebuilt binary of Aura:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/aura-bin.git
cd aura-bin
makepkg
sudo pacman -U <the-package-file-that-makepkg-produces>
Building from Source
You will need the Stack Tool for Haskell to compile Aura yourself. Then:
git clone https://github.com/fosskers/aura.git
cd aura
stack install -- aura
This may take a while to initially build all of Aura's dependencies. Once
complete, your aura
binary will be available in /home/YOU/.local/bin/
.
Sample Usage
Full usage information can be found in Aura's man page.
Installing Packages
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -A <package> |
Install an AUR package. |
aura -Au |
Upgrade all installed AUR packages. |
aura -Akuax |
Author's favourite (upgrades, removes makedeps, shows PKGBUILD diffs, shows progress) |
aura -Ai <package> |
Look up information on an AUR package. |
aura -As <regex> |
Search the AUR via a regex. |
aura -Ap <package> |
Display a package's PKGBUILD. |
aura -Ad <package> |
List a package's dependencies. |
Package Set Snapshots
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -B |
Store a JSON record of all installed packages. |
aura -Br |
Restore a saved record. Rolls back and uninstalls as necessary. |
aura -Bc <n> |
Delete all but the most recent n saved states. |
aura -Bl |
Show all saved package state filenames. |
Downgrading via the Package Cache
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -C <package> |
Downgrade a package. |
aura -Cs <regex> |
Search the package cache for files that match a regex. |
aura -Cc <n> |
Delete all but the most recent n versions of each cached package. |
aura -Cv |
Delete all of the /var/cache/aura/vcs cache |
Searching the Pacman Log
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -L |
View the Pacman log. |
aura -Li <package> |
View the install / upgrade history of a package. |
aura -Ls <regex> |
Search the Pacman log via a regex. |
Managing Orphan Packages
Orphan packages are those whose install reason is marked as "As Dependency", but are not actually depended upon by any installed package.
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -O |
Display orphan packages. |
aura -Oa <package> |
Change a package's install reason to Explicitly installed . |
aura -Oj |
Uninstall all orphan packages. |
PKGBUILD Security Analysis
As mentioned above, the -P
commands can help us detect bash usage that
conflicts with the AUR guidelines, as well as outright exploits.
Command | Function |
---|---|
aura -P <stdin> |
Analyse a PKGBUILD piped from -Ap . |
aura -Pf <file> |
Analyse a PKGBUILD file. |
aura -Pd <dir> |
Analyse the PKGBUILD file found in a directory. |
aura -Pa |
Analyse all locally installed AUR packages. |
Configuration
Aura looks for a configuration file at /etc/aura.conf
, but won't break if one
isn't present. A template config file can be found here
and contains all instructions. If you install Aura via its AUR package, this
file is added for you.
Localisation
As mentioned in the Philosophy above, adding new languages to Aura is quite easy. If you speak a language other than those available and would like it added to Aura, please see the Localisation section of The Aura Book.
Credits
Aura is sponsored by these wonderful people:
Aura has been translated by these generous people:
Language | Translators |
---|---|
Arabic | "Array in a Matrix" |
Chinese | Kai Zhang |
Croatian | Denis Kasak and "stranac" |
Czech | Daniel Rosel |
Dutch | Joris Blanken / Heimen Stoffels |
Esperanto | Zachary "Ghosy" Matthews |
French | Ma Jiehong and Fabien Dubosson |
German | Lukas Niederbremer and Jonas Platte |
Indonesian | "pak tua Greg" |
Italian | Bob Valantin and Cristian Tentella |
Japanese | Colin Woodbury and Onoue Takuro |
Korean | "Nioden" |
Norwegian | "chinatsun" |
Polish | Chris Warrick, Michał Kurek |
Portuguese | Henry Kupty, Thiago Perrotta, and Wagner Amaral |
Romanian | "90", "benone" |
Russian | Kyrylo Silin, Alexey Kotlyarov |
Serbian | Filip Brcic |
Spanish | Alejandro Gómez, Sergio Conde and Max Ferrer |
Swedish | Fredrik Haikarainen and Daniel Beecham |
Turkish | Cihan Alkan |
Ukrainian | Andriy Cherniy |
Vietnamese | "Kritiqual" |
Aura's logo is thanks to the designer Cristiano Vitorino.
The aur
Haskell Library
A library for accessing the AUR.
The aursec
Tool
Performs a sweep of all PKGBUILDs on the AUR, looking for Bash misuse.