[root tip] [HowTo] Check if your AUR build scripts have been updated

[linux-aarhus]

AUR usage != Manjaro stable branch

Test if you are AUR ready by running below snippet in a terminal

if [[ $(pacman-mirrors -G) == 'stable' ]]; then echo 'AUR is a no-go'; else echo 'OK - go ahead'; fi

The Arch way

Every AUR build script page has a notification subscription → in upper right box.

This is a simple as it gets - when the script is updated you get a mail notification.

Screenshot

But Pamac can do that?

And you are correct - it can.

Even so it has proven countless times this is a bad idea.

1. An otherwise successful sync breaks due invalid AUR database
2. You run into issues when a package and dependencies is demoted from repo to AUR
3. Duplicate package names - where version in AUR is higher than official repo.
   [Example 1] [Example 2]

That just a couple of stumbling points the last couple of months.

So do yourself a favour and revert Pamac → Preferences → Third Party → Check for updates to the default - which is disabled.

Another fairly simple solutions is to run a script after login

The check-aur.sh script

The script requires yay to be installed

sudo pacman -Syu yay

Due to a fair amount of open bugs with yay you may choose to use paru instead.

Create a script - check-aur.sh - place it in ~/.local/bin and make it executable with content

Notify script

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# AUR buildscript update checker
#
#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
#    (at your option) any later version.
#
#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#    GNU General Public License for more details.
#
#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#    along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#
# 2022-12-20
# @linux-aarhus (c) root.nix.dk
# 2023-05-09: added not on yay bugs

# due to a fair amount of open bugs for yay https://github.com/Jguer/yay/issues
# it may be due dilligence to change to paru
# paru supports the same arguments as yay
# simply change yay to paru in the script

AurHelper="yay"

#check if yay is available
if ! command -v ${AurHelper} > /dev/null; then 
    echo ":: ${AurHelper} not found... please install"
    exit 1
fi

#check if libnotify is available
if ! [[ "$(which notify-send)" =~ (notify-send) ]]; then
	echo ":: libnotify not found... (sudo pacman -S libnotify"
	exit 1
fi

aur_changed=$(${AurHelper} -Quaq)

if ! [[ -z ${aur_changed} ]]; then
    if ! stty &>/dev/null; then
        notify-send -u normal "Notification of AUR changes"  "$aur_changed"
        exit
    fi
    printf "${aur_changed}"
fi

Make the script executable

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/check-aur.sh

The script will do

• check if yay is installed - if not exit
• execute {paru|yay} -Quaq and store the response in a variable
• if there is any content in the response
  • if run by a service use the system notification daemon to pop a notification
  • if run from command line output to console

autorun after login

To run it one time after login create a user service file

First create the service folder structure

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user

Then create a file ~/.config/systemd/user/check-aur.service - paste the following content

[Unit]
Description=Check for changes to AUR buildscrpts
# wait for network
After=syslog.target network.target default.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 30
ExecStart=/home/%u/.local/bin/check-aur.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Start the user service - do not use sudo

systemctl --user enable check-aur.service

After login the service will activate and do the following

• wait 30 seconds
• run the check-aur.sh script
• execute the script and exit

oh-no no updates - what shall I make of my time

---

If you are not satisfied with the popup shortly after login create a timer

Do not flood AUR with useless traffic

Create a complementary timer ~/.config/systemd/user/check-aur.timer with content - example is 4 hours

[Unit]
Description=Schedule AUR change checks

[Timer]
OnStartUpSec=10m
OnUnitActiveSec=4h

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

The timer will do this

• wait until 10m after boot
• activate the check-aur.service
• re-activate the service every 4 hours while system is up

When using a timer - you need to disable the service - otherwise the timer refuse to activate it.

systemctl --user disable --now check-aur.service

Then activate the timer

systemctl --user enable --now check-aur.timer

When you are notified

When you use this notifier and you are notified - simply use your favorite AUR helper to rebuild the packages.

Pamac works from command line too

pamac build <scriptname>

Rebuild all from the command line

pamac build $(check-aur.sh)

Rewritten notify script with IgnoredPkgs

This example is from my system. I am using the dotnet-core-bin custom script to install dotnet 6 - because the the project I work on must have long term support.

My issue is that the above script keeps informing me the package has been updated to dotnet 7 - which I - for the time being - do not need.

So I rewrote the script be able to handle an array of ignored packages. One added benefit was the aquired bash array knowledge - never too old to learn - right?

Due to - @2023-05-08T22:00:00Z - a fair amount of open bugs with yay I have added support for paru which - when available - will be preferred over yay.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# AUR buildscript update checker - optional ignore specific packages
#
#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
#    (at your option) any later version.
#
#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#    GNU General Public License for more details.
#
#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#    along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#
# 2023-04-15
# @linux-aarhus (c) root.nix.dk
# Revision log
# 2023-05-09: Added paru as supported helper - paru will be preferred over yay 
#           : Rewrite comparison to arrays and fix missing content with libnotify
# 2023-05-10: shellcheck validated

# Ignore specific packages
# e.g. IgnorePkgs=('pkg1' 'pkg2')
IgnorePkgs=('dotnet-host-bin' 'dotnet-targeting-pack-bin'
           'aspnet-targeting-pack-bin' 'aspnet-runtime-bin'
           'dotnet-runtime-bin' 'dotnet-sdk-bin'
           'netstandard-targeting-pack-bin')

# to skip search set AurHelper to yay or paru
AurHelper="paru"

if [[ -z ${AurHelper} ]]; then
    #check if paru is available
    if command -v paru > /dev/null; then 
        AurHelper="paru"
    fi
    
    if [[ -z ${AurHelper} ]]; then
        #check if yay is available
        if command -v yay > /dev/null; then 
            AurHelper="yay"
        fi
    fi

    if [[ -z ${AurHelper} ]]; then
        echo "=> No AurHelper found"
        echo "=> supported helpers:"
        echo "  --> yay:  sudo pacman -S yay"
        echo "  --> paru: pamac build paru-bin"
        exit 1
   fi
fi

#check if libnotify is available
if ! [[ "$(which notify-send)" =~ (notify-send) ]]; then
        echo ":: libnotify not found... (sudo pacman -S libnotify)"
        exit 1
fi

# get changed scripts
aur=$(${AurHelper} -Quaq)

# setup arrays
IFS=$'\n' ignored=("$(sort <<<"${IgnorePkgs[*]}")"); unset IFS
IFS=$'\n' changed=("$(sort <<<"${aur[*]}")"); unset IFS

# create a filtered array
filtered=$(comm -13 <(printf "%s\n" "${ignored[@]}") <(printf "%s\n" "${changed[@]}"))

# create the notification
notification=$(for f in "${filtered[@]}"; do echo "${f}"; done)

# display notification if the filtered array is not empty
if  [[ -n "${notification}" ]]; then
    if ! stty &>/dev/null; then
        notify-send -u normal "Notification of AUR changes" "${notification}"
    else
        echo "${notification}"
    fi
fi

Source

https://root.nix.dk/en/utility-scripts/check-aur-buildscript-changes

[TriMoon]

I suppose there is no other way to check without using yay in that script?
Ahh well, im sure it will help some ppl

[adrinux]

Could you clarify how updates to AUR packages then happen?

The script works nicely to notify but Pamac is unaware of updated packages so we need to use Yay to update AUR packages too?

[linux-aarhus]

To ensure stable operation - AUR scripts should always be rebuilt manually.

When you use this notifier and you are notified - simply use your favorite AUR helper to rebuild the packages.

pamac works from command line too

pamac build <scriptname>

or you can use yay

yay <scriptname>

[mishmosh]

Nice script!

A typo in the enhanced script … IgnoredPkg, IgnoredPkgs, then back to IgnoredPkg

@linux-aarhus

# e.g. IgnorePkg=('pkg1' 'pkg2')
IgnoredPkgs=('dotnet-host-bin' ...
...
... sorted=($(sort <<<"${IgnorePkg[*]}"));