Now that I’ve officially stepped into the mysterious world of Manjaro, I wanted to discuss the pacman package manager. This package manager seems particularly powerful, and the few commands I’m aware of really ease the installation process of packages as well as getting rid of orphaned packages and looking up dependencies.
The installation process for me was a bit tricky at first. Being well accustomed to how apt-get manages things, I had to study up and slowly transition myself over to pacman. Well, the transition wasn’t slow. At all. A quick Google search led me to a program called yaourt. Yaourt compiles and installs packages for you. What’s even more intriguing is how often it asks you whether or not you want to continue with the installation, and what changes you might want to make to the package itself. Personally, I think this is a fantastic device, as I know pretty much exactly what’s being downloaded and installed, whereas with apt-get, all you see are the dependencies.
Manjaro, being derived from Arch Linux, is also entirely compatible with Arch Linux’s repository, AUR (Arch User Repository). Though Manjaro’s Wiki cautions users when wanting to install packages from AUR, they do not outright forbid users to do so, which I find liberating. There may be packages in the AUR that I may not find in Manjaro’s official repository, and as long as I’m aware of the risks that may come with installing certain packages from AUR, I can utilize it at my leisure.
Some packages in the AUR may be unstable because it is entirely community driven, and therefore anyone can place packages in the repository, and not all of them are thoroughly checked. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Manjaro is superior, or that Arch Linux is inferior for primarily using the AUR; it simply just means that Manjaro has a dedicated team willing to comb through certain packages and distribute them to its user base.
Manjaro is basically a user-friendly cousin of Arch Linux, and that’s absolutely fine. It’s getting better all the time, and is constantly evolving. I know there are some out there that insist that Arch is better because you know exactly what’s in your system due to building it from the ground up, but I argue that BOTH have their merits, and BOTH are worthy operating systems to either test out or maintain as a default.
I, for one, will be sticking with Manjaro. Whatever operating system you choose to use, for whatever reason, stick with it. Don’t let naysayers sway your opinion. If YOU like it, continue to use it. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
‘Till next time!
It’s most of my experience too..