FYI: Introducing the DUR, the AUR for Debian

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Just a quick note for Debian users: I've stumbled across a recently announced project, the Debian User Repository. Basically, what AUR is for Arch Linux DUR wants to be for Debian.

The toolchain is very similar: You use the PKGBUILD format to describe your package and the actions to build, check and package it, then call makedeb to build a .deb from it which you can install with dpkg -i. A "DUR helper" called mpm is in development which will eventually do things similar to yay/paru, I believe. makedeb-db is also mentioned which appears to "translate" dependencies from AUR PKGBUILDs to Debian, but not sure about that.

The one big problem I see is that Debian releases versions with all release cycles: The regular releases are fixed, testing is semi, sid and experimental are rolling. One of the reasons AUR works so well with Arch is because it's always been a rolling release, so dependency conflicts usually only appear if one plans to build and install software last updated ages ago. In any case, a PKGBUILD only needs to target Arch, whereas makedeb, or the PKGBUILDs it will read, must be able to target all of the releases somehow, be it through makedeb automatically resolving to the correct dependency versions depending on which release the machine runs or by means of a special PKGBUILD section.

Even though I moved from Debian not long ago, it's quite exciting for me: A new development with the potential to change how software not in the official repos is managed on Debian, provided Debian's little quirks are handled right. Let's see what the future brings.

[monstrocity 31]

Interesting project.  20 packages in just a few days.  What distribution are you using now? 
I'm thinking of moving to an Arch based distro, like EndeavourOS, since it seems to have matured quite a bit over the last couple of years, and the prospect of fresh installing LM Cinnamon 21 when it drops (next year) doesn't seem too appealing - too bloated out of the box.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

25 minutes ago, monstrocity said:

What distribution are you using now?

Have been using Debian since 2016: I moved to EndeavourOS somewhere around October 2020, then went through the hoops of installing vanilla Arch two months ago because I wanted to contribute to Arch itself and use their comms infrastructure without being shunned on IRC or dustbinned on the BBs for using a distro they don't support. They make themselves very clear on that expectation, let me tell you.
Turns out, those hoops are much lower than expected, and the installation is actually very straightforward for someone with even mediocre Linux knowledge, but the distro and the people using it sure expect you to read documentation, for example in the form of the Arch wiki and, as mentioned, only accept support requests on the forums if the installation was done by following the wiki entry.
Still, I see EndeavourOS as the best starting point into the Arch family right now because it's very close to vanilla, with very little specific config thrown in, like a custom Xfce theme, custom .bashrc and things like eos-update-notifier and yay installed out of the box. Removing the endeavouros repo and deleting all packages not in any repos using pacman will remove that customization. Bam, Arch Linux. Though, the BBs still won't accept you.

[monstrocity 31]

Yes, the Arch community can be brutal if you're not on pure Arch.  However, as you suggested, and as my research indicates, the easiest entry into the Arch world seems to be EndeavourOS.  I'll probably start there and see how badly I can break Linux before moving on to pure Arch.  LM has been good to me - so no complaints there really, but I'd rather build what I need rather than strip away what I don't.  I've managed to get my system down to about 1GB of RAM use at start up - not that means much unless you only have 2-4GB of total RAM to work with.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

52 minutes ago, monstrocity said:

but I'd rather build what I need rather than strip away what I don't.

With this sentence alone I'd even advise to go vanilla Arch right away. It is painfully close to build what you need. Even configure what you need because, for example, window managers or even sshd come with a systemd unit file which is not enabled by default. Something to be mindful of because people do sometimes ask why their newly installed Arch does not boot into their newly installed KDE right away. Somehow understandable from one point of view, as practically all distro installers enable this if installed, but also understandable from the other because Arch follows KISS… and it's simpler to let the user decide what to start at boot. The wiki does outline all of that, though, which once again adheres to Arch's preferred audience, the documentation readers.
Whatever the choice, I think you will find no regrets switching.