Software Alternatives & Startups

paru VS pkgsrc

Compare paru VS pkgsrc and see what are their differences

paru logo paru

An AUR helper written in Rust and based on the design of yay. It aims to be your standard pacman wrapping AUR helper with minimal interaction.

pkgsrc logo pkgsrc

pkgsrc is a framework for building over 17,000 open source software packages.
  • paru Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-02-16
  • pkgsrc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-30

paru features and specs

  • AUR Helper
    Paru is an AUR helper, which means it simplifies the process of searching, installing, and upgrading packages from the Arch User Repository.
  • Features Rich
    Paru offers rich features including dependency resolution, conflict detection, and parallel downloads, enhancing the overall package management experience.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Designed with a focus on usability, Paru provides an intuitive and user-friendly command-line interface for managing packages.
  • Active Development
    Paru is actively developed and maintained, ensuring regular updates and prompt responses to issues and feature requests.
  • Built-in AUR Interactive Mode
    It offers an interactive mode for reviewing PKGBUILDs before installation, ensuring transparency and control over what gets installed.

Possible disadvantages of paru

  • Arch-Specific
    Paru is specific to Arch Linux and its derivatives, which limits its usability to this subset of Linux distributions.
  • Command-Line Interface
    As a command-line tool, it may not be suitable for users who prefer graphical interfaces or are unfamiliar with terminal commands.
  • AUR Risks
    Installing packages from the AUR can pose security and stability risks as these packages are user-submitted and not officially vetted.
  • Learning Curve
    For new users, there might be a learning curve associated with understanding and using Paru effectively, especially if they are new to Arch Linux.
  • Dependency Management Complexity
    Handling complex dependencies for certain packages might require manual intervention and understanding of the system's package management.

pkgsrc features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    pkgsrc is designed to be a portable package management system and can be used on a variety of Unix-like operating systems, including NetBSD, Solaris, Linux, and macOS. This cross-platform capability makes it a versatile tool for developers working in diverse environments.
  • Consistency Across Systems
    Using pkgsrc allows for a consistent package management experience regardless of the underlying operating system, reducing the learning curve and maintenance overhead for administrators managing multiple systems.
  • Comprehensive Package Collection
    pkgsrc offers a wide range of software packages, providing a robust collection that can meet diverse user needs from scientific libraries to web applications.
  • Quarterly Releases
    With quarterly releases, pkgsrc provides a balanced approach between stability and keeping software up to date, offering users new features regularly while maintaining reliability.
  • Flexible Build Options
    pkgsrc supports a flexible build system, allowing users to customize package builds with specific options or dependencies, tailored to their specific needs or system requirements.

Possible disadvantages of pkgsrc

  • Smaller Community
    Compared to other popular package management systems like apt (Debian/Ubuntu) or yum (RedHat/CentOS), pkgsrc has a relatively smaller community, which might affect the availability of support and community-driven improvements.
  • Potentially Older Software
    While pkgsrc maintains stable quarterly releases, it may occasionally lag behind other systems in terms of offering the very latest versions of certain software, which might not be ideal for users needing the newest features.
  • Manual Configuration
    Setting up pkgsrc might require manual interventions and configurations, which could pose a hurdle for users unfamiliar with its setup process or those who prefer more automated solutions.
  • Dependency Management
    Although pkgsrc is quite capable in dependency handling, some users may find its dependency resolution to be less automatic or seamless compared to other systems which offer more integrated solutions.
  • Performance Overhead
    Because it is designed to be cross-platform, there can be some performance overhead associated with using pkgsrc compared to native package managers that are optimized for specific operating systems.

paru videos

Attention Arch Users! Replace 'Yay' With 'Paru'.

More videos:

  • Review - Arch Linux: The Paru AUR Helper
  • Review - నువ్వు మొ**లో Questions అడగకు దవడ మీద దెం**| Laila Paru Interview | Tiktok StarS interviewS | IB9TV

pkgsrc videos

pkgsrc on ChromeOS

More videos:

  • Review - Using pkgsrc for multi-platform deployments in heterogeneous environments, G Clifford Williams

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to paru and pkgsrc)
Work Music
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Focus Music
100 100%
0% 0
Package Manager
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using paru and pkgsrc. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

paru might be a bit more popular than pkgsrc. We know about 12 links to it since March 2021 and only 11 links to pkgsrc. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

paru mentions (12)

  • My First Arch Linux Installation
    But you can also choose another one (like paru which is written in Rust), or if you're really going in Arch Linux way, get familiar with the manual build process. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • switch from nouveau to 390xx drivers xorg
    Next compile / install the AUR package https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-390xx-dkms - I'd recommend using a helper app like paru to help installing updates for it easier. Reboot and the nvidia v390 kernel module should have loaded. Source: over 3 years ago
  • What goes into maintaining an Arch system?
    Many users also use an AUR helper, which makes it easier to install and upgrade packages from the AUR. Yay and paru are the most popular. Source: over 4 years ago
  • How can I add aur in an arm arch Linux, is it with the same paru-bin located at https://aur.archlinux.org/paru-bin.git ????
    Paru-bin provides binaries for x86_64 and aarch64. If your device is not aarch64, you'll have to build paru from source. Source: over 4 years ago
  • any solution for checkupdates-aur
    I use paru as my aur helper. It uses the same flags pacman does with additional ones if you want to handle only aur updates instead of both pacman packages + aur. Source: over 4 years ago
View more

pkgsrc mentions (11)

  • Debian isn't waiting for 2038 to blow up, switches to 64-bit time for everything
    > Most open source software packages are also compiled for BSD variants, they switched to 64 bit time_t a long time ago and reported back upstream any problems. * NetBSD in 2012: https://www.netbsd.org/releases/formal-6/NetBSD-6.0.html * OpenBSD in 2014: http://www.openbsd.org/55.html For packaging, NetBSD uses their (multi-platform) Pkgsrc, which has 29,000 packages, which probably covers a large swath of... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Our Audit of Homebrew
    > https://pkgsrc.smartos.org/install-on-macos/ Note that Pkgsrc is a NetBSD-derived project. * https://pkgsrc.org The Joyent folks leveraged it to allow their customers, who were perhaps not as familiar with Solaris/SmartOS, a larger pool of packages. Pkgsrc was running on Solaris before Joyent, Joyent built on top of it. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Show HN: Brioche – A new Nix-like package manager
    Https://pkgsrc.org/ from netbsd runs on many systems. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Installing packages without an internet connection?
    It seems according to pkgsrc.org that pkgin might follow the PKG_PATH environment variable. You're supposed to set PKG_PATH="http://cdn.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/$(uname -p)/$(uname -r|cut -f '1 2' -d.)/All/", and according to uname(1), -p gives the processor architecture and -r gives the operating system [kernel] release. Source: over 3 years ago
  • pkgsrc.se is no more :(
    It seems like pkgsrc.org hasn’t got the news yet. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing paru and pkgsrc, you can also consider the following products

Yay - Yay is an AUR helper written in go, based on the design of yaourt, apacman and pacaur.

Conda - Binary package manager with support for environments.

pikaur - AUR helper with minimal dependencies. Review PKGBUILDs all in once, next build them all without user interaction.Inspired by pacaur, yaourt and yay.

Homebrew - The missing package manager for macOS

Trizen - Trizen AUR Package Manager: A lightweight wrapper for AUR.

pacaur - An AUR helper that minimizes user interaction.