Installing yaourt on Arch Linux

As an Arch Linux user for a few years, I encountered the need to install packages available in the AUR (Arch User Repository). However, installing software from the AUR can be a bit time-consuming, so I needed to find a viable alternative that could manage installations both from the AUR and the official repositories.

I found the software yaourt, which works as a package manager. One of the main advantages of this manager is that it allows centralized management of packages from both AUR and official repos.

Here’s a short tutorial on how to install yaourt and some usage tips. First, you need to edit the file /etc/pacman.conf and add the following lines:

[archlinuxfr]
SigLevel = Never
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/$arch

After that, update the system and install yaourt by running this command as root:

sudo pacman -Sy yaourt

And that’s it — yaourt is installed! Simple, right? Now, here are some common examples of how to use it:

To search and install a package, run:

yaourt <search_term>

To synchronize databases, update, and search in the AUR, run:

yaourt -Syu --devel --aur

To update just the system and the AUR, run:

yaourt -Syua

To compile a package from source, run:

yaourt -Sb <package>

These are the most commonly used commands, but there are many more possible commands you can run. Also, it’s important to run yaourt as a regular user (not root), since during package installation you will be prompted for your password. This way you have better control over what’s being installed.