yay README

The project's README from github.com/Jguer/yay. As one markdown file: README.md.

yay yay-bin yay-git AUR votes GitHub license

yay

Yet Another Yogurt - An AUR Helper Written in Go

Help translate yay: Transifex

Features

asciicast

asciicast

Installation

If you are migrating from another AUR helper, you can simply install yay with that helper.

[!WARNING]
We are using sudo in these examples. You can switch that out for a different privilege escalation tool.

Source

The initial installation of yay can be done by cloning the PKGBUILD and building with makepkg:

We make sure we have the base-devel package group installed.

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

If you want to do all of this at once, we can chain the commands like so:

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && cd yay && makepkg -si

Binary

If you do not want to compile yay yourself you can use the builds generated by GitHub Actions.

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git
cd yay-bin
makepkg -si

If you want to do all of this at once, we can chain the commands like so:

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git && cd yay-bin && makepkg -si

Other distributions

If you're using Manjaro or another distribution that packages yay you can simply install yay using pacman (as root):

pacman -S --needed git base-devel yay

[!WARNING] distributions sometimes lag updating yay on their repositories.

First Use

Development packages upgrade

Examples of Custom Operations

Command Description
yay Alias to yay -Syu.
yay <Search Term> Present package-installation selection menu.
yay -Bi <dir> Install dependencies and build a local PKGBUILD.
yay -G <AUR Package> Download PKGBUILD from ABS or AUR. (yay v12.0+)
yay -Gp <AUR Package> Print to stdout PKGBUILD from ABS or AUR.
yay -Ps Print system statistics.
yay -Syu --devel Perform system upgrade, but also check for development package updates.
yay -Wu <AUR Package> Unvote for package (Requires setting AUR_USERNAME and AUR_PASSWORD environment variables) (yay v11.3+)
yay -Wv <AUR Package> Vote for package (Requires setting AUR_USERNAME and AUR_PASSWORD environment variables). (yay v11.3+)
yay -Y --combinedupgrade --save Make combined upgrade the default mode.
yay -Y --gendb Generate development package database used for devel update.
yay -Yc Clean unneeded dependencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Support

All support related to yay should be requested via GitHub issues. Since yay is not officially supported by Arch Linux, support should not be sought out on the forums, AUR comments or other official channels.

A broken AUR package should be reported as a comment on the package's AUR page. A package may only be considered broken if it fails to build with makepkg.

Reports should be made using makepkg and include the full output as well as any other relevant information. Never make reports using yay or any other external tools.

Images

Other AUR helpers/tools

yay (Jguer/yay)

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13.8K ·GitHub
Yay
What is this?yay is an AUR (Arch User Repository) helper written in Go. It wraps pacman so you can search, install, and upgrade both official repo packages and AUR packages with one command.
Is this a replacement for pacman or a wrapper around it?It's a CLI wrapper/front-end for pacman and makepkg: it adds AUR support, dependency solving, and PKGBUILD downloading on top of the normal pacman workflow.
How do I install yay?Clone the PKGBUILD and build it with makepkg (after installing the base-devel group), use a prebuilt binary from GitHub Actions, or if you're on Manjaro or another distro that packages it, just install it with pacman.
Do I need anything installed before building yay?You need the base-devel package group installed since it builds via makepkg, and you'll be using sudo (or another privilege escalation tool) during install and operations.
Will yay always catch AUR package updates for -git packages?No — yay relies on a hash cache for development (-git) packages, so if a package was never installed via yay's devel tracking, it won't know to offer an update until you run yay -Y --gendb.
Does this only work on Arch Linux?Yes, it's built specifically for Arch Linux and Arch-based distros (like Manjaro) since it depends on pacman and the AUR.
How do I get yay to check for development package updates?Run yay -Y --gendb once to build a devel package database, then use yay -Syu --devel to check for updates, or yay -Y --devel --save to make that permanent.
Can I vote for or unvote AUR packages with yay?Yes, using yay -Wv to vote and yay -Wu to unvote, but this requires setting the AURUSERNAME and AURPASSWORD environment variables.
Where do I get support if something breaks?Support is handled via GitHub issues only, since yay isn't officially supported by Arch Linux; broken AUR packages themselves should be reported on the package's AUR comment page instead.
What other AUR helpers are similar to yay?The README lists paru, aurutils, and pikaur as related AUR helpers/tools.
What are similar projects?veet, distrobox, microdnf, gvm, moji, xmake, openvpn-install, tig
Which topics is it in?aur, archlinux, gpl, package-manager, command-line, go, terminal, cli, developer-tools, linux, open-source
Creator
Jguer
Size
8.6 MB
Stars
13.8K
Updated
CommitSep 26Releasev13.0.1Jun 19
Age
10y
Commits · 90 Days