makepkg

From ArchWiki

makepkg is used for compiling and building packages suitable for installation with pacman, Arch Linux's package manager. makepkg is a script that automates the building of packages; it can download and validate source files, check dependencies, configure build-time settings, compile the sources, install into a temporary root, make customizations, generate meta-info, and package everything together.

Configuration

To be able to install dependencies with makepkg as an unprivileged user (with makepkg -s, see below) install sudo and add desired users to /etc/sudoers:

USER_NAME    ALL=(ALL)    NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/pacman

The above will negate the need to enter a password with pacman. See the sudo wiki article for detailed information.

Next, one can configure where finished packages should be placed. This step is optional; packages will be created in the working directory where makepkg is run by default.

Create the directory:

$ mkdir /home/$USER/packages

Then modify the PKGDEST variable in /etc/makepkg.conf accordingly.

/etc/makepkg.conf is the main configuration file for makepkg. Most users will wish to fine-tune makepkg configuration options prior to building any packages. (For example, modifying the MAKEFLAGS variable on SMP systems for a reduction in compile times, or modifying the PACKAGER variable to personalize packages.) See makepkg.conf for detailed information.

Usage

Before continuing, ensure the "base-devel" group is installed. Packages belonging to this group are not required to be listed as dependencies in PKGBUILD files. Install the "base-devel" group by issuing (as root):

# pacman -Sy base-devel

To build a package, one must first create a PKGBUILD, or build script, as described in Building Packages, or obtain one from the Arch Build System, Arch User Repository, or some other source.

Once in possession of a PKGBUILD, change to the directory where it is saved and issue the following command to build the package described by said PKGBUILD:

$ makepkg

If required dependencies are missing, makepkg will issue a warning before failing. To build the package and install needed dependencies automatically, simply use the command:

$ makepkg -s

Note that these dependencies must be available in the configured repositories; see pacman#Repositories for details. Alternatively, one can manually install dependencies prior to building (pacman -Sy dep1 dep2).

Once all dependencies are satisfied and the package builds successfully, a package file (pkgname-pkgver.pkg.tar.gz) will be created in the working directory. To install, run (as root):

# pacman -U pkgname-pkgver.pkg.tar.gz