Frequent issues "PKGBUILD doesn't exist"

I normally have no issues… but last couple weeks, anything I clone from github gives me an error…

I type: git clone <copied link from git hub"
cd to that file, if not automatically showing it there.
Then makepkg -si.

PKGBUILD does not exist

Any idea why this is happening?

    ~/Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver    master  git clone https://github.com/bobbysue/Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver.git         12 ✘ 
Cloning into 'Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 253, done.
remote: Total 253 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 253
Receiving objects: 100% (253/253), 70.04 KiB | 264.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (65/65), done.
    ~/Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver    master ?1  makepkg -Si                                                                     ✔ 
==> ERROR: PKGBUILD does not exist.
    ~/Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver    master ?1  makepkg -si                                                                  12 ✘ 
==> ERROR: PKGBUILD does not exist.
    ~/Linux-Magic-Trackpad-2-Driver    master ?1                                                                               12 ✘ 

I wrote down my notes when successfully doing it in the past… This is an example.
Thanks much.

…normally does not have a PKGBUILD including the repo you’re cloning. Read the instructions in each repo. Some projects may be in the AUR (Arch User Repository), search there as well.

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Would be nice if it was the “default gesture” to include at minimum a basic PKGBUILD template within the project. :wink: After all, the original developers know their software the best, and would lead AUR builders with something they can more easily work with, rather than from scratch.


The day that becomes the norm is when a new distro will emerge because “Arch Linux and its derived distros are too mainstream!”. :laughing:

Too add to what @Yochanan noted, you can also read the included documentation (per project), which will hint to you what to do in your own custom PKGBUILD under the prepare(), build(), and package() operations.

Nice, but asking/expecting any developer to have to take additional time to learn/comply with Arch packaging guidelines (esp. if their dev environment is not Arch) is absolutely unrealistic.

There are also plenty of PKGBUILDs that you can look at for inspiration as well. There is also a sub-forum on the Arch BBS for help with PKGBUILDs as well.

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Ahh, ok. Perfect sense!
I appreciate the jest guys! Funny now imagining myself scratching my head… I had assumed any clone from git hub came this way.

Thank you for the teachings. This is resolved :slight_smile:

:wink: