The software I need for my printer is officially distributed only as DEB and DNF packages. The vendor also provides the source code, along with installation scripts for those package formats. I'm using Arch Linux and have only built software by running make before. I've read that creating a PKGBUILD is the proper approach because pacman can then track and manage the installation. Is that the recommended method, and how should a beginner get started with a PKGBUILD?
1 Answer
First check whether the program is already available in the official repositories or in the Arch User Repository. If you decide to build it yourself, compiling with make is fine for a quick manual install, but it won’t be tracked cleanly by pacman. A PKGBUILD is essentially a build recipe, and its build() function often calls make. You can copy a simple PKGBUILD for a similar C-based program, then update the source URL, dependencies, build commands, and installation steps. Build it with makepkg and install the resulting package with pacman.
I may have seen packages for it in the Arch User Repository, but I’d prefer not to rely on it. I’ll look at an existing PKGBUILD as a reference and adapt it locally.