Spend your time coding
As a long time developer - using Arch and Manjaro - I can tell from experience - having your workflow broken is extremely stressing - especially due to system issues.
Issues you can avoid and I will share with you - how to avoid them.
Spend your time coding instead of fixing system issues.
Development tools
Users new to Manjaro and development is often trapped with unnecessary problems and issues, due to how Manjaro and Arch package management works.
When using Python, NodeJS and JetBrains tools using a simple set rules and you will avoid issues which otherwise would have cost you hours to fix.
Qt 5/6 Toolkit
Upstream Qt only supports a few distributions and they insist on using the unified installer which requires a developer registration.
Because Manjaro is a rolling release this approach may prove difficult as there is no guarantee the unified installer matches what is available in upstream ArchLinux stable repos - which is the same packages Manjaro Linux uses in the edge branch (unstable).
This may create issues and the unified installer is unsupported on Manjaro Linux
Qt on Manjaro
Qt tools is available in the official repos.
The tools is available using different packages - where many is already present as dependencies for other packages.
Packages
The package qt{5,6}-tools contains the tools and is often installed as several packages depends on the functionality provided
The content of the packages changes over time when the tools are updated.
As of April 2024
| Package | Qt Framework | Provides |
|---|---|---|
| qt5-tools | all | Qt Designer |
| all | Qt Assistant | |
| all | Qt Linguist | |
| all | Qt QDBusViewer | |
| qt6-tools | 6 | Qt 6 Tools QtHelp |
| qtcreator | all | IDE |
| qtcreator-devel | all | scripts, libs, headers |
Modules
A wide variety of Qt modules is available and some but certainly not all is readily available.
If you need specific Qt functionality search the official repo for modules targeting specific versions of the framework
E.g. to search for qt5 modules
pamac search qt5 --no-aur
And the equivalent for qt6
pamac search qt6 --no-aur
Qt4
Qt4 has been deprecated and should not be used. In the unlikely event you need something they may be available as custom builds - those are unsupported and build at your responsiblity
pamac search qt4 --aur
Python
Always install system wide packages using pacman
sudo pacman -Syu python-pkgname
NEVER use sudo pip
This is likely to create maintenance Failed to commit transaction issues at a later stage so avoid
sudo pip install pkgname
If you need PyPi package use the --user argument and from 3.11 and onwards you add --break-system-packages. This has been implemented upstream to ensure the user is aware of the implications.
pip install --user --break-system-packages pkgname
Another option is pipx
sudo pacman -Syu pipx
Then you can do
pipx install <pkgname>
Use a virtual environment if you need PyPi
Install a virtual environment using pacman - one example is python-virtualenvwrapper
sudo pacman -Syu python-virtualenvwrapper
Then source the wrapper script in your .bashrc or .zshrc or on the commandline
source /usr/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
Use commands like
mkvirtualenv my-project
Cd to your project folder and run your scripts - install the python packages needed etc.
To set your python environment for my-project
workon my-project
pip install numpy
When you are done
deactivate my-project
Node JS
Nodejs is often installed as dependency for other packages e.g. Electron based apps.
Never mess with the system nodejs.
Never install node packages using sudo
This also likely to create maintenance Failed to commit transaction issues at a later stage so avoid
sudo npm install -g gulp
sudo npm install http
Use a node version manager
One option is to use pnpm which is a nodejs package manager for your project (packaged for Manjaro by @Yochanan )
sudo pacman -S pnpm
Another option is NVM a node version manager - which installs, runs and maintain nodejs in your home folder - and you can install and run different versions of nodejs - something that is impossible using the package manager - where you will always be forced to use a specific version
sudo pacman -S nvm
Install a nodejs interpreter - you can install several if necessary and switch between them
nvm install node
Then install node packages - even global packages - using commands like this
npm install -g gulp
npm install http
JetBrains tools
You can install JetBrains tools from AUR - but they are installed into /opt and thus requires superuser when the tool informs you that updates are available.
It is better using the Jetbrains Toolbox App to install the tools.
If you are using a single app e.g. PyCharm, PhpStorm or WebStorm and you don’t want or need the Toolbox
- download the archive
- unpack it in your home.
- navigate into the unpacked folder
- run the app’s launcher script from the
binfolder.
Android Studio
Android Studio is based on IntelliJ - the core of all JetBrains tools - install it using the Toolbox App or download from android.com
- download the archive
- unpack it in your home.
- navigate into the unpacked folder
- run the app’s launcher script from the
binfolder.
dotnet core SDK
The packages in the repo is mostly runtime packages.
As developer you want all binaries provided by the current dotnet core LTS and there is only one viable method to achieve this on one step using an Arch based distribution.
This is a custom package - jump to the custom dotnet package article to learn how.
To educate yourself on use of AUR and why it is unsupported please jump to article About Manjaro and AUR
Conclusion
Have fun developing and educating yourself in the fantastic and endless world of coding.