Yay is so heavy 😤

[Gat Pelsinger]

One thing I don't understand is why yay has to compile almost everything I need to download from the AUR. Is it just an yay thing or do all AUR helpers do this?

 

I just installed yay and without even installing anything else there are thousands of files and folders in the yay folder and somehow my drive usage has also increased quite a bit. If I look inside the folder, the reason there are so many files and folders because most of the folder is filled with source files. Why do I care about keeping source files? I just need the binary.

 

So am I supposed to use a different AUR helper? How do I not keep the source file and why does it even compile them in the first place?

[Nayr438]

The Arch User Repository is intended for PKGBUILD's, in other words everything is supposed to be built from source. The exception to this is PKGBUILDs marked as *-bin.

 

As to why yay keeps the source files, its for quicker rebuilds when you go to update.

 

You also likely have make depends being pulled in, these are packages required to build the PKGBUILD but may not be necessary to actually run the compiled package. These may also be other AUR packages.

 

As another note, these PKGBUILD'S are community maintained, which means you need to understand how they work and what each one is doing. As a result they could be poorly made, unmaintained, or even malicious. You should also be aware that these packages may need periodically rebuilt even if there hasn't been a version change.

 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_maintenance#Be_careful_with_unofficial_packages

 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository

[BoomerDutch]

I'm sure you could compile in temp folder it will disappear after reboot.

 

Except if you never reboot.

 

I'm sure it's /temp

 

Do remember to take out binary tho.

 

Kinda sad that every source is placed in wrong folder.

[Gat Pelsinger]

@Nayr438

 

I maybe understand, but that is still a lot of bloat. And either way I still do not care about the source files. I heard there is a way to get only the binary files in yay using some flag idk.

 

As @BoomerDutch, is that possible? But how do I manage stuff? Like I mean how do I redirect the target to the /tmp folder and then where do I take out the binary?

 

The AUR is so great that it is almost needed for regular use but I hate compiling stuff.

 

Also, is yay even the best AUR helper if not good? What does "Search and Download" and "Search and Build" mean at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers ? Yay is only a pacman wrapper.

[BoomerDutch]

14 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

@Nayr438

 

I maybe understand, but that is still a lot of bloat. And either way I still do not care about the source files. I heard there is a way to get only the binary files in yay using some flag idk.

 

As @BoomerDutch, is that possible? But how do I manage stuff? Like I mean how do I redirect the target to the /tmp folder and then where do I take out the binary?

 

The AUR is so great that it is almost needed for regular use but I hate compiling stuff.

 

Also, is yay even the best AUR helper if not good? What does "Search and Download" and "Search and Build" mean at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers ? Yay is only a pacman wrapper.

I'd believe you have to forward folder.

Source to tmp, I'd forgotten how but google shouldn't be issue.

 

Like sourcefolder > tmp

 

I've done it but I'm having blank.

I'll come back if i remember it.

 

- update

Ah it's symlinking google explains it by searching "how to link folder to other folder"

 

So 

ln -s /sourcefolder /targetfolder

So anything that goes to sourcefolder it just points to target folder so no choice but to be put there.

 

As for source location i have no idea.

[Gat Pelsinger]

@BoomerDutch

 

Well that is good but I still hate compiling. I need to install like a billion dependencies and it also takes a while to compile everything. And there is still some bloat elsewhere, not mentioning those dependencies.

[BoomerDutch]

5 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

@BoomerDutch

 

Well that is good but I still hate compiling. I need to install like a billion dependencies and it also takes a while to compile everything. And there is still some bloat elsewhere, not mentioning those dependencies.

Uhh you know there will be asked once to temporary install packages and it auto remove itself? And you need binary once as for updates you'll just can hold on for more 2 months then compile once again for update.

 

Otherwise just use bazzite it's a system that almost cannot break but modifiedable.

[Nayr438]

50 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

@Nayr438

 

I maybe understand, but that is still a lot of bloat. And either way I still do not care about the source files. I heard there is a way to get only the binary files in yay using some flag idk.

 

@BoomerDutch,

No. Everything in the AUR is intended to be built from source, there is no package repo.

 

25 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

@BoomerDutch

 

Well that is good but I still hate compiling. I need to install like a billion dependencies and it also takes a while to compile everything. And there is still some bloat elsewhere, not mentioning those dependencies.

Then don't use the AUR.

 

[Sauron]

On 4/25/2024 at 5:49 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

One thing I don't understand is why yay has to compile almost everything I need to download from the AUR. Is it just an yay thing or do all AUR helpers do this?

...because that's just how the AUR works...

 

and yay explicitly asks you whether it should keep the source files and build dependencies.

On 4/25/2024 at 7:27 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

Well that is good but I still hate compiling. I need to install like a billion dependencies and it also takes a while to compile everything.

Then use another distribution, or don't install anything from the aur. What's next, running gentoo and then complaining you have to compile things?

On 4/25/2024 at 6:59 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

Also, is yay even the best AUR helper if not good? What does "Search and Download" and "Search and Build" mean at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers ? Yay is only a pacman wrapper.

Pacman wrappers are the most powerful form of aur helper because they abstract away all the work of searching, downloading, building and installing AUR packages.

[igormp]

On 4/25/2024 at 12:49 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

One thing I don't understand is why yay has to compile almost everything I need to download from the AUR. Is it just an yay thing or do all AUR helpers do this?

 

I just installed yay and without even installing anything else there are thousands of files and folders in the yay folder and somehow my drive usage has also increased quite a bit. If I look inside the folder, the reason there are so many files and folders because most of the folder is filled with source files. Why do I care about keeping source files? I just need the binary.

 

So am I supposed to use a different AUR helper? How do I not keep the source file and why does it even compile them in the first place?

As others said, you're heavily misunderstanding what the AUR is, and what a helper is supposed to be.

If you don't want to build stuff, download the -bin versions, if provided.

 

On 4/25/2024 at 1:59 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

@Nayr438

 

I maybe understand, but that is still a lot of bloat. And either way I still do not care about the source files. I heard there is a way to get only the binary files in yay using some flag idk.

 

As @BoomerDutch, is that possible? But how do I manage stuff? Like I mean how do I redirect the target to the /tmp folder and then where do I take out the binary?

 

The AUR is so great that it is almost needed for regular use but I hate compiling stuff.

 

Also, is yay even the best AUR helper if not good? What does "Search and Download" and "Search and Build" mean at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AUR_helpers ? Yay is only a pacman wrapper.

You really like to call everything "bloat", don't you? Dependencies are dependencies, there's nothing much to do about it. Cache is cache, if you want to get rid of it just disable it, and do everything from scratch next time if needed.

 

On 4/25/2024 at 2:04 PM, BoomerDutch said:

I'd believe you have to forward folder.

Source to tmp, I'd forgotten how but google shouldn't be issue.

 

Like sourcefolder > tmp

 

I've done it but I'm having blank.

I'll come back if i remember it.

 

- update

Ah it's symlinking google explains it by searching "how to link folder to other folder"

 

So 

ln -s /sourcefolder /targetfolder

So anything that goes to sourcefolder it just points to target folder so no choice but to be put there.

 

As for source location i have no idea.

Not a good idea IMO, you can just pass the "--cleanafter" flag to yay when installing/upgrading stuff and it'll delete the cached files after everything is done.