A script for converting .deb packages into Arch Linux packages, focused on accuracy
P.S.: Am an begineer and manjaro is the first linux i had. Debian packages (,deb) are not meant to be installed on Arch-based systems. Distros like Linux Lite or Linux Mint specially if you wanna download and install. Arch Linux is one of the popular Desktop Operating systems. Its main pros revolve around large community and thousands of packages that can be installed on Arch Linux, both from official repositories and from AUR. In this guide, we will cover how to install packages on Arch Linux.
Q: What 'debtap' stands for?
A: DEB To Arch (Linux) Package
Q: Isn't better to download an official package or write a PKGBUILD in case I need to compile a package or convert a .deb package to an Arch Linux package?
A: Sure it is, and I truely encourage you to do so. Debtap was written to create packages that either cannot be compiled (closed source packages) or cannot be built from AUR for various reasons (error during compiling or unavailable files), as a quick 'n' dirty solution and an extra option for creating Arch Linux packages for Arch Linux users.
Q: So debtap will help me only in case I need to convert specific .deb packages to Arch Linux packages?
A: No. In case you need to write a new PKGBUILD for a package that already exists in the Debian/Ubuntu distributions, using parameter -p or -P it can generate a PKGBUILD and then edit it as you wish.
Q: What are the minimum requirements to run this script?
A: You need to have installed these dependencies:
bash
, binutils
(provides ar utility for extracting .deb package and readelf), pkgfile
and fakeroot
.You must run at least once (preferably recently) debtap -u
to create/update pkgfile and debtap database (you do this with root privileges).Q: Debtap needs a lot of time to convert a package. So, why this is happening?
A: Like I said, debtap is focused on accuracy. It won't just unpack a .deb package and then repackage its data to an Arch Linux package, ignoring metadata. Depending on the speed of your processor and the package itself, conversion can take from a few seconds to several minutes.
![Install Deb Package On Arch Linux Download Install Deb Package On Arch Linux Download](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125849590/613932407.png)
Q: During conversion I get several warning messages, why?
A: Debtap cannot be 100% accurate for several reasons, the main reason for this is the complexity of packages names. If you want to check the freshly generated
.PKGINFO
and .INSTALL
(this is optional file) metadata files or even fix the untranslated packages names inside .PKGINFO
, debtap offers you the option to edit these files before compressing the final package.Q: How do I use debtap?
A: The syntax is quite simple actually:
debtap [options] package_filename
For example: debtap world-of-goo-demo_1.0_i386.deb
Any recommendations or questions for debtap are welcomed!
How to extract & install deb files in Archlinux manually. Sometimes when searching for an application package on the AUR site, I did not find the application I was looking for.And I only found the debian package when downloading on the official website directly. For example, I want to install the HastyHeroes game..
The url of HastyHeroes games :
https://github.com/Aveek-Saha/HastyHeroes/releases
On the site there are only exe, appimage, and deb files. But i prefer to download deb packages. Download the deb packages. Then open filemanager. Because I'm using LXDE desktop, I use PCMANFM file manager.
Open the downloaded deb, and move to specific folder. Example HastyHeroes folder. Then right click on deb packages.
Then rename the deb into zip
Then click ok, right click on renamed file, then extract here:
Then extract data.tar.xz, right click then extract here.Place the file according to its name.For example, the opt folder, then the contents of the folder must be copied paste to / opt, as well as the / usr folder, and others.Each application has its own structure, just copy it according to the contents of the existing folder. (This need a root privilege).
After that you need to run the apps in terminal, to see if the application requires additional dependencies.
![Deb Deb](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125849590/423979414.png)
For Hasty Heroes, i don't need to copy paste to /opt and /usr, because HastyHeroes is stand alone application, so i can run the app directly from HastyHeroes executable files.
HastyHeroes gameplay:
Ok bro/sis, that's about how to extract & install deb files in archlinux manually. It's simple :D