Arch Linux provides the AUR (Arch User Repository), which allows users to contribute and maintain packages not available in the official repositories. This expands the availability of software significantly.
However, AUR packages require manual building and installation, which can be inconvenient. To simplify this process, several AUR helpers exist (see: AUR Helper Comparison Table).
This post details the installation and basic usage of yay, one of the commonly used AUR helpers.
Installing yay #
The following commands will install yay:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -siBasic Usage #
The syntax of yay is similar to pacman.
Searching for Packages #
To search for a package by keyword:
yay -Ss <keyword>Installing Packages #
To install a package found in the search:
yay -S <package-name>Removing Installed Packages #
To remove a package installed via yay:
yay -R <package-name>Additional Commands #
# Full system upgrade
yay -Syu
# Update package list
yay -Sy
# Remove a package along with its dependencies
yay -Rs <package-name>
# Remove orphaned packages
yay -Yc