Software Alternatives & Startups

pikaur VS pkgsrc

Compare pikaur VS pkgsrc and see what are their differences

pikaur logo pikaur

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

pkgsrc logo pkgsrc

pkgsrc is a framework for building over 17,000 open source software packages.
  • pikaur Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-18
  • pkgsrc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-30

pikaur features and specs

  • AUR Helper
    Pikaur is an Arch User Repository (AUR) helper, which simplifies the process of installing and managing AUR packages on Arch Linux systems.
  • Interactive Search
    It provides an interactive search feature that allows users to easily find and select packages using a command-line interface.
  • Dependency Management
    Automatically resolves and manages package dependencies, making installation and updates easier for users.
  • User-friendly Interface
    Offers a user-friendly interface that improves the overall experience of managing packages compared to using standard pacman commands.
  • Sudo Privilege Management
    Manages sudo privileges efficiently, requiring fewer password prompts during package operations.

Possible disadvantages of pikaur

  • Limited to Arch-based Systems
    Pikaur is specifically designed for Arch Linux and its derivatives, limiting its use to those systems.
  • Dependency on Python
    Requires Python, meaning users need to ensure Python is installed and properly configured on their system.
  • Potential for AUR Package Issues
    Since AUR packages are user-generated, there can be inconsistencies or issues with package scripts that might affect installations.
  • Security Risks
    As with other AUR helpers, users may inadvertently install potentially harmful or insecure software from the AUR.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may face a learning curve when first using Pikaur compared to more graphical or traditional package managers.

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.

pikaur videos

Pikaur et Wish, deux successeurs potentiels à Pacaur ?

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 pikaur 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

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, pkgsrc should be more popular than pikaur. It has been mentiond 11 times since March 2021. 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.

pikaur mentions (4)

  • Using pikaur, how would I disable asking me "Do you want to edit PKGBUILD for <package_name> package? [Y/n]"
    Have a look here. Did you not search for the answer? That's part of the Arch(based) ethos. We tend to like to learn by reading whatever is required. :). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Nala v0.10.0 - Nala's A Legible Apt
    I was also looking for something nicer for Arch, but haven't found anything as nice as Nala. For now, I switched to pikaur, which at least displays updates in a much clearer way. Source: about 4 years ago
  • I created a tool to install AUR packages in 1 click from the website: Aurin
    Nice, but this definately needs a dependency resolver, otherwise it can only install a fraction of the available AUR packages. Since you're already using python, you may adapt your whole code on top a another python-based AUR helper like pikaur. You maybe also could take at the dep resolver of my ABS project. It's python, too, maybe not as clean as pikaur's code but simpler and not too integrated. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Which AUR-helper is recommended?
    I've been using pikaur ever since pacaur became abandonware and I'm very happy with it, can't recommend it enough. Sure, it's not implemented in Rust or Go so it's certainly not as cool as yay or paru but that doesn't really matter much to me, being an end user. I don't really care as long as it does its job, as advertised. Source: over 5 years ago

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 pikaur 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.

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.

Homebrew - The missing package manager for macOS

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

Pakku - Pakku is a pacman wrapper with additional features, such as AUR support. Stable release is available in AUR.