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Configuration

moson-mo edited this page Mar 30, 2024 · 19 revisions

When pacseek is started the first time, it will generate a configuration file ~/.config/pacseek/config.json
You can either manually edit the file or use the Settings screen make changes.
(It's recommended to use the Settings screen since a couple of options only allow specific values)

Save any changes that you've made with the "Apply & Save" button.
A warning message will be displayed if you try to quit pacseek when there are unsaved changes.

Options

Below you'll find the current list of configuration options.

Color scheme

You can choose between a couple of different color schemes for pacseek.
Additional schemes might be added in the future.

If you want to define your own colors, set it to "Custom".
That will generate a file ~/.config/pacseek/colors.json in which you can change the color for various UI elements.

Transparent

When enabled, a transparent background color is used instead of black.
In some terminal emulators this does not have any effect.
In others you'd need to enable this if want transparency.

Border style

Let's you choose how the borders are being drawn.
There are a couple of different styles available.

Glyph style

You can choose between a couple of different glyph styles for pacseek.
Additional styles might be added in the future.

If you want to define your own glyphs, set it to "Custom".
That will generate a file ~/.config/pacseek/glyphs.json in which you can change the glyph displayed in various UI elements.

Save window layout

When this option is enabled, the proportions of the components is saved.
See Resizing components for more info.

Disable AUR

When enabled/checked, the AUR will not be queried when searching. It'll only search in the repositories defined in pacman.conf

AUR RPC URL

The URL to the aurweb /rpc endpoint. This endpoint provides REST API's that are being utilized for the searching.
In the default configuration it not using the official AUR one. More to that in the "Technical stuff" section.

AUR timeout (ms)

This setting defines how long we will wait for a response from the AUR /rpc endpoint (in milliseconds).
If the timeout is exceeded we'll cancel and only return the list of repository packages.

AUR search delay (ms)

The delay (in milliseconds) that is applied before we start querying for package details.
Now with the latest changes to pacseek, this setting is somewhat obsolete.
Basically, it will only be applied when the cache is disabled or the entries in the cache expired and you are navigating through the result-list.
In that case, it'll re-query package information from the AUR but wait for a certain amount of time before doing so.
That's being done to not run unnecessary queries (e.g. if you quickly navigate through the result-list)

Disable cache

When start a search, the results will be added to a cache so that we do not query the AUR for package details each time you navigate to another package in the result-list.
Enabling this option will completely disable caching and force pacseek to run a request every time you search or select another package.
Disabling the cache is not recommended since it wasting server resources. I'm considering to remove this option at some point.

Cache expiry (m)

The number of minutes until cached search and package-info data expires.

Max search results

The maximum number of results that are being displayed in the result-list.

Note that when "Search mode" is set to "StartsWith" we are limited to 100 results from the AUR.
This is a limitation of type of API call that is being used (using the official endpoint there is even a max of 20

Search mode

There are two modes available at the moment. With "Contains" it will show results where the name/description contains the search-term (any position). Using the "StartsWith" option, only those packages are shown where the very beginning of a package name/description matched the search-term.

Search by

Allows you to define if only the package name is being matched against the search-term or the description as well.

Enable Auto-suggest

Enables auto suggestion of packages while typing in the search bar. (like in the search box on aur.archlinux.org)

Compute "Required by"

When switched on, it will compute the list of "Required by" packages and display that in the details.
The computation is quite resource intensive and should only be enable if you really need it.

Pacman DB path

The path to the pacman database files.

Pacman config path

The path to the pacman configuration file

Separate commands for AUR

In case you do not use an AUR helper where you can utilize the same command for installing repository as well as AUR packages,
this setting allows you to define different installation and upgrade commands for AUR packages.
Once enabled, two additional options will be visible, allowing you to specify those commands.

Install command

This is the command that is being executed when you install a package.
The package name is appended to this command.

Example: With the default config, if you install package pacseek it'll execute: yay -S pacseek

You can also use the expression {pkg} in your command. It will then be replaced with the package name prior to execution.
In this case the package name is not being appended to the end of the command.

This allows more sophisticated commands to be defined:

Example: echo "Installing {pkg}..."; sleep 5; yay -S {pkg} && echo "Successfully installed {pkg}"; sleep 5

The following variable substitutions are available for the (AUR) Install command:

{pkg} -> package name
{pkgbase} -> package base
{giturl} -> AUR git repo URL
{optdepends} -> space separated list of optional dependencies
{repo}-> Package repository

Upgrade command

The command that is being run when you start an upgrade with Ctrl + U

Uninstall command

Similar to "Install command" this is the command that is executed when you remove a package.

Show PKGBUILD internally

If enabled, the PKGBUILD file will be displayed within pacseek.

Show PKGBUILD command

Only applicable when "Show PKGBUILD internally" is switched off.

The command that is being executed when clicking on "Show PKGBUILD" in the details or pressing Ctrl + P.
By default curl and less are being used. (curl -s "{url}"|less)
The term {url} is a placeholder and needs to be included in your custom command.

Some examples:

  • micro
    curl -s "{url}" | micro -filetype shell

  • nano
    curl -s "{url}" | nano -

  • vim
    curl -s "{url}" | vim -

  • neovim
    curl -s "{url}" | nvim -

  • Default browser
    xdg-open "{url}"

Disable news-feed

By default, a news-feed is shown on the "upgrades" screen.
When this option is checked, this feature is disabled.

New-feed URL(s)

The list of RSS feeds from which news are being fetched.
You can define multiple feeds by separating them with ;.

The default is: https://archlinux.org/feeds/news/

News-feed max items

The maximum number of items to display from the feed(s).
All items are being sorted by published date in descending order so you'll always see the latest news.

Package column width

Maximum width of the "Package" column in the package list.
When 0 (default) it automatically resizes the column based on the content.

Separate Deps with Newline

Specifies if the list of dependencies is seperated with line-breaks (default) or commas.

Examples for other AUR-Helpers

By default, pacseek is configured with yay for installing/removing or upgrading packages.
Here some configuration examples for other AUR-Helpers:

  • aurutils
    • Enable the setting Separate AUR commands
    • AUR Install command -> aur sync {pkg} && sudo pacman -S {pkg}
    • AUR Upgrade command -> aur sync -u && sudo pacman -Syu
    • Install command -> sudo pacman -S
    • Upgrade command -> sudo pacman -Syu
    • Uninstall command -> sudo pacman -Rs

  • paru
    • Install command -> paru -S
    • Upgrade command -> paru
    • Uninstall command -> paru -Rs

  • makepkg
    • Place this script into a directory that is referenced in your $PATH variable
    • Install command -> pacseek-install {pkgbase} {pkg} {giturl}
    • Upgrade command -> sudo pacman -Syu
    • Uninstall command -> sudo pacman -Rs
    • NOTE
      • It's recommended to use an AUR-Helper instead: makepkg nor packseek can resolve depedencies present in the AUR
      • Upgrades have to be manually taken care of. Tip: Use the upgrades screen (CTRL+G) and rebuild packages if needed.