Why is base-devel not installed by default in Manjaro (anymore)?

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Hi guys :blush:
As far as I know, Manjaro used to have the base-devel metapackage pre-installed by default until quite some time ago. Is there a specific reason why this is no longer the case? Sometimes I read the recommendation to install base-devel in Manjaro as a ā€œmust-doā€. I am aware that you need it if you want to build PKGBUILDs from the AUR manually using makepkg. Here the question may arise what would be the advantage over using an AUR helper like yay or paru etcā€¦
In my case I have to use a WiFi driver from the AUR. Occasionally, the driver has to be rebuilt, and this always happens when I want to upgrade from one kernel line to the next - for example from 5.12.x to 5.13.x.
So far, I usually do this conveniently via pamac. This works even without base-devel being installed. The small disadvantage is that I need an internet connection here, so that all dependencies are installed, which become orphans again after building. As far as I could determine, these are packages that are included in base-devel. Orphans are regularly deleted to keep my system lean and clean.

Is it generally recommended to install base-devel via sudo pacman -Syu base-devel --needed in Manjaro or are there reasons not to do so?

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base-devel is a group, not a meta package. Iā€™m pretty sure itā€™s installed on the official editions.

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The inhouse package manager - Pamac - pulls the dependencies needed to build packages using pacmanā€™s libalpm. Before Pamac got the ability to build AUR packages it was often recommended to install the base-devel package.

But not all packages in base-devel meta package is required to build packages.

So if you need want the base-devel meta package the correct method is the mentioned command and there is no explicit reason to do or not to do.

Maintaining your system by removing obsolete packages on a regular base is always a good idea.

The Manjaro building blocks is available at your convenience and adding needed packages and removing obsoletes - is always a user decision.

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By my practice I can say that not included in KDE official ISO edition at least in latest ISO version which I search sometime in October, 2020. May be it was removed even earlier.

The Manjaro building blocks? Is it an app or concept? What is that?

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Linux can be compared to a pile of Lego - you build anything you like - whether it is practical and functional or it is not.

Manjaro - like any other distribution - has put selected bricks into a reasonable system - what you do afterwards is entriely up to you.

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I just installed the latest version iso (full, not minimal), gnome edition.

While trying to build a package from AUR, it broke.

==> ERROR: Cannot find the strip binary required for object file stripping.

Which is fixed by installing base-devel.

From base-devel, my system didnt come with the following:

  • pkgconf
  • patch
  • make
  • m4
  • gcc
  • flex
  • fakeroot
  • bison
  • binutils
  • automake
  • autoconf

I feel like this would be a nice and small adittion to the base system, and would save some troubleshooting of users.

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Using the AUR is neither officially supported by Arch nor Manjaro. Itā€™s up to the user to learn how to use it responsibly.

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