Are you on Debian and keep missing packages or want some of the latest applications on top of your stable system? Say hello to the brand new Debian User Repository in the style of the Arch User Repository. It only got announced a couple of days ago so it's very fresh-faced and so there's not many packages yet, but it could end up being something revolutionary for Debian - perhaps anyway.
The creator, Hunter Wittenborn, mentioned how they initially started off developing makedeb, which makes Debian packages from Arch PKGBUILDs as they loved "Arch Linux's simple and efficient PKGBUILD format for creating packages". Another project, mpm, came later as a package manager for makedeb to make it even easier. So the Debian User Repository seems like the natural evolution of their ongoing work.
As an Arch Linux user myself (there's a joke there somewhere…) thanks to EndeavourOS making the setup easy I've found the Arch User Repository to often be an invaluable tool.
What do you think? Will you use it or contribute to it or do you not like the idea of it? Let us know in the comments.
And remove some hassle when looking at ways to make your devices usable (yes I think of old Logitech product like G13 keyboard) by grabbing pieces of software here and there that are not even for Debian distros.
It could allow an improved user experience where the regular repos fall short and Flatpak/Snap/AppImage isn't an option. But... there's no official Debian validation that the things in DUR are safe and benevolent. Security versus convenience?
The AUR is IMHO simultaneously the best and the worst part of Arch... will the DUR hold up to Debian standards? Can it?
https://www.preining.info/blog/author/norbert/
Quoting: ShmerlThat's cool! By the way, if anyone wants a newer KDE for Debian testing / unstable, check repos by Norbert Preining:
https://www.preining.info/blog/author/norbert/
Yes but Norbert is a more than vetted source compared to the article. And it is thanks to him that Bullseye will deliver a fairly recent KDE environment.
Quoting: Perkeleen_VittupääWhat about the security aspect as some instances are pushing these "convenient" ways to install stuff? The authors of these packages cannot automatically be trusted and confirmed, so on. The software pulled from this "Arch style repo" are not sandboxed like snaps and flatpaks can beYou can (and have to) manually read the PKGBUILD before installing.
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