To cut to the chase, Flatpak is nice to have, but isn’t a complete replacement, and the other suggested “replacement”, Pacstall, targets Ubuntu instead of base Debian. If you want more detail, read the spoiler:

spoiler

I use EndeavourOS as my daily driver, so I’m used to the sheer convenience of the AUR. However, I’m not a fan of how that convenience is tied to a continually-changing rolling release distro. This becomes especially apparent whenever a major KDE update comes out, or the Arch Linux people decide to make yet another big change.

Debian is the other main distro I use. I mostly install it on systems I don’t intend to use often, but recently I started dual-booting it on my main desktop. I like how slowly things change in the Debian world, and if it were easier to run uncommon software on it, I’d probably use it more.

I know Debian can use Flatpak, and while it is nice to have, it’s not a complete replacement for the AUR. The other “replacement” MPR/Makedeb’s developer suggested is Pacstall, but that’s for Ubuntu and not base Debian. If Ubuntu were the same distro it were back when 20.04 came out, I wouldn’t be opposed to using it, but Ubuntu’s gone to shit since then.

EDIT: Inb4 Distrobox too.

EDIT2: The reason I want an AUR equivalent is convenience. Yes, I commit the cardinal sin of using an AUR helper when I use EndeavourOS. I like being able to install things and have them integrate into my normal system package management without having to manually set up scripts.

  • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
    1·
    22 hours ago

    I commit the cardinal sin of using an AUR helper when I use EndeavourOS

    I don’t think it’s a sin to use an AUR helper such as yay at all (me too BTW). The sin is, not to read the AUR scripts or to trust random sources in the script.

    As for your main question, I am not aware of a user repository in the style of AUR for Debian. Maybe you could use NIX package system, that you can install on any OS that is not read only. Or as others suggested, maybe Distrobox and then use AUR directly. But these are only workarounds, not a clean solution.

  • Solemarc@lemmy.world
    63·
    2 days ago

    I don’t recommend anyone use the AUR if it can be at all avoided.

    The AUR is just a script that builds the package from source so you could just make your own bash scripts to do that? I don’t remember my cmake commands off the top of my head but I think it’s just;

    cmake
cmake build
cmake install

    Those bash scripts might also be in the repo as pkgbuild so you can copy it from there but you’ll have to change any ArchLinux specific command to debian.

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
      1·
      21 hours ago

      I don’t recommend anyone use the AUR if it can be at all avoided.

      But I do; not everyone, but certain people. In example me as a certain people. I use the AUR since years and it has been great.

      The AUR is just a script that builds the package from source

      That’s why its okay to use, if you know what you are doing and what you need.

      so you could just make your own bash scripts to do that?

      Exactly. But then it is not integrated into the other packages (when we speak about AUR helpers), which includes handling dependencies and other stuff. Also it is much better to use scripts from others that are well tested and checked and updated. With the caveat that you don’t trust everyone and will always check the script and sources before updating.

      I don’t remember my cmake commands off the top of my head but I think it’s just

      It’s not always just cmake. In fact there are many ways. Some even download pre-compiled binaries (from those sources you trust off course), others require custom work before making it work, with correct versioning and so on.

      Those bash scripts might also be in the repo as pkgbuild so you can copy it from there but you’ll have to change any ArchLinux specific command to debian.

      I do not recommend that, unless it is very clear this could work. Because the dependencies are different. But with care and knowledge, as a starting point one could probably simply change scripts to make them work on Debian.

  • klankin@piefed.caEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    I’m as in the cult as they get, so I’m pretty bias, but you could try nix package manager

    installable on any distro, and claims to have a larger package library than the AUR.

  • hexagonwin@lemmy.todayEnglish
    71·
    2 days ago

    is there something specific you want that isn’t on the debian repo? i believe they have almost the largest repo among distros.

    my distro (slackware) has very few packages, for things i need that aren’t available i just compile from source. especially with stable distros it’s not a big deal because you don’t have to recompile often

    • mrbigmouth502@piefed.zipOPEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I remember joystickwake was one of the main things that pushed me to try the MPR a few years ago, when I was testing Debian on my laptop. I got so frustrated with setting up the MPR that I just installed EndeavourOS.

      Mesen-CE is another program I use that’s not in Debian’s repos. It’s not too hard to set up without it, but it’d be nice if it were there.

      I don’t think vkquake is in Debian’s repos either, but I’m not 100% sure about that. It recently made it into Arch’s main repos, which is cool.

      I’m not sure if Faugus Launcher is in Debian’s repos either.

      EDIT: I just double-checked. None of these programs are in Debian’s repos, but Faugus is on Flathub.

      • hexagonwin@lemmy.todayEnglish
        32·
        2 days ago

        yeah, these things are all trivial to compile.

        i suggest not dealing with things like MPR for this; just set --prefix=/opt or something similar when compiling the program, and install everything to /opt.

        in slackware this is very easy to deal with, as the package manager is extremely basic and basically just unpacks tarballs and logs its file list somewhere. ‘packages’ are just tarballs so you just compile anything with a prefix to a temporary dir, tarball that dir and install it with the ‘package manager’ to keep track of things. this is simple enough so you can do similarly on debian without switching distros or using slackware’s scripts

  • flatbield@beehaw.orgEnglish
    82·
    2 days ago

    One reason I use Debian is that the repo is so large most things are there. If they are not or what is there is too old I use primarily flatpak and appimage.

    Curious what you do not like about Ubuntu? I admit I am not crazy about it these days but one reason we uٌse it for some systems is the supported software. We are at 24.04 and only uprgade every 4 years but it seems to work fine.

    • mrbigmouth502@piefed.zipOPEnglish
      9·
      2 days ago

      Ubuntu started locking certain security updates behind Ubuntu One a few years ago. They also won’t stop pushing Snap over native packages.

      • flatbield@beehaw.orgEnglish
        6·
        2 days ago

        Yes I hate the snap for everything stuff.

        Regarding security updates, are the missing ones critical? I have been ignoring ubuntu one.

        • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          6·
          2 days ago

          They added an option for enterprise to extend security patches support for unsupported old distros, and then gave it free to users too behind a pro account. But you don’t need it unless you’re on a very old version of ubuntu.

  • A_norny_mousse@piefed.socialEnglish
    31·
    2 days ago

    I’m used to the sheer convenience of the AUR.

    Famous last words. But if you really know how to use the AUR you can create your own PKGBUILDs for whatever it is you want.

    What do you want? Your OP sounds like you want to combine different package management systems.

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
    45·
    2 days ago

    No, and there probably shouldn’t be. Most software I want is packaged as a deb or flatpak, or can be git cloned or tar xzf’d and run. I’ve never found it difficult.

    You can add Ubuntu PPAs if you really want to, but you will likely run into dependency issues fairly quick.

    • mrbigmouth502@piefed.zipOPEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      You can add Ubuntu PPAs if you really want to, but you will likely run into dependency issues fairly quick.

      That’s a terrible idea and shouldn’t even be suggested. I learned that the hard way about 15 years ago trying to get graphics drivers working on Crunchbang.

      • frongt@lemmy.zip
        12·
        2 days ago

        Then you already know the perils of adding sketchy software sources like AUR.