Aur Makepkg

Skill: aur-makepkg

Purpose

Comprehensive guide for building Arch Linux packages using makepkg. Covers the build process, configuration, environment variables, debugging, and optimization for creating packages from PKGBUILDs.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Building packages from PKGBUILDs
• Configuring makepkg behavior
• Debugging build failures
• Optimizing build process
• Creating custom package configurations

When NOT to Use This Skill

• For using pacman directly (see aur-pacman skill)
• For official package building (uses devtools)
• For non-Arch Linux systems

Overview

makepkg is a script provided by the pacman package that automates building packages. It reads a PKGBUILD and performs these steps in order:

1. Verify - Check if dependencies and makedepends are met
2. Download - Fetch sources and verify integrity (hashes or PGP signatures)
3. Extract - Unpack sources and apply patches (prepare() function)
4. Build - Compile software (build() function)
5. Package - Install into fake root ($pkgdir), strip symbols, compress man pages
6. Archive - Create .pkg.tar.zst file

Basic Usage

Simple Build

# Build package (requires dependencies)
makepkg -s

# Build and install automatically
makepkg -si

# Skip dependency installation
makepkg

Cleaning

# Clean up after build (default behavior)
makepkg -c

# Clean build directory BEFORE building (pristine environment)
makepkg -C

Force Overwrite

# Overwrite existing package in output directory
makepkg -f

Output Control

# Output directories are configured in makepkg.conf
# Package output directory
PKGDEST=/home/packages

# Source download directory  
SRCDEST=/home/sources

# Sign the package
makepkg --sign

Configuration Files

Configuration hierarchy (later files override earlier ones):

1. /etc/makepkg.conf - Global
2. /etc/makepkg.conf.d/*.conf - System-wide drops
3. ~/.makepkg.conf or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pacman/makepkg.conf - User-specific

/etc/makepkg.conf

Global configuration for all users.

# Package output directory
PKGDEST=/home/packages

# Source download directory (recommended for VCS packages)
SRCDEST=/home/sources

# Log directory
LOGDEST=/home/buildlogs

# GPG key for signing
GPGKEY="your fingerprint"

# Parallel compilation
MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)"

~/.makepkg.conf

User-specific overrides.

# Disable signature verification (NOT RECOMMENDED)
# Use --skippgpcheck flag or add !sign to BUILDENV

# Use all CPU cores
MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)"

# Color output
USE_COLOR=1

Environment Variables

| Variable | Purpose | |----------|---------| | MAKEFLAGS | Compiler flags (e.g., -j4) | | PKGDEST | Package output directory | | SRCDEST | Source download directory | | SRCPKGDEST | Source package directory | | LOGDEST | Build log directory | | PACKAGER | Package maintainer name (email obfuscated) | | GPGKEY | GPG key for signing | | BUILDENV | Build tools (ccache, distcc) |

Example Usage

# Build with specific settings
MAKEFLAGS="-j4" PKGDEST="/tmp/packages" makepkg -s

# Set maintainer info (email obfuscated per AUR guidelines)
PACKAGER="Your Name " makepkg

Build Process Stages

1. Package Verification

# Download sources and verify integrity (no extraction or building)
makepkg --verifysource

# Download and extract only (no build)
makepkg --nobuild

2. Dependency Resolution

# Install missing dependencies and build
makepkg -s

3. Source Extraction

# Default: sources are extracted automatically

# Skip extraction (if sources already present)
makepkg --noextract

4. Building

# Build package (default behavior)
makepkg

# Parallel compilation is controlled via MAKEFLAGS, not a flag
MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)" makepkg

5. Package Creation

# Create package (default, runs after build)
makepkg

# Package only (skip build if already done)
makepkg --pkg

# Sign package
makepkg --sign

Debugging Builds

View Build Log

# Default location: current directory (where PKGBUILD is)
less ./mypackage.log

# Or specify log location
LOGDEST=/tmp/logs makepkg

Interactive Build

# Log all function output to files
makepkg --log

# Debug mode (shows commands as they run)
makepkg --debug

Common Build Issues

Missing Dependencies

# Install missing deps
makepkg -s

# Check what's missing
makepkg -o 2>&1 | grep "could not satisfy"

Permission Errors

# CRITICAL: Never build as root - PKGBUILDs can contain arbitrary commands
# If only root is available, use:
runuser -u nobody -- makepkg -s

# Fix ownership
chown -R $USER:$USER ./mypackage

Checksum Mismatch

# Update checksums
updpkgsums PKGBUILD

# Or manually generate
makepkg -g >> PKGBUILD

Network Issues

# Use proxy
export HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy:8080
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy:8080

# Use specific downloader
DLAGENTS=("ftp::/usr/bin/curl -fC - -o %o %u")

Incompatible Flags If build succeeds manually but fails via makepkg, incompatible makepkg.conf settings may be the cause. Disable defaults in PKGBUILD:

options=('!makeflags' '!buildflags' '!debug')

Package Signing

Generate GPG Key

gpg --full-gen-key
# Use RSA, 4096 bits, expires in 2 years

Sign Package

# Sign during build
makepkg --sign

# Sign existing package
gpg --detach-sign package.pkg.tar.zst

# Sign package and append
gpg --armor --detach-sign --yes

Verify Package

# Verify signature
gpg --verify package.pkg.tar.zst.sig

# Verify with pacman
pacman -U package.pkg.tar.zst

Optimization

Parallel Compilation

# In makepkg.conf
MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)"

# Or on command line (note: -j is for makepkg's MAKEFLAGS, not a direct flag)
MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)" makepkg

Build Environment

# makepkg assumes base-devel is installed
# Never list base-devel members in makedepends:
# WRONG:  makedepends=('gcc' 'make')
# CORRECT: makedepends=()  # base-devel provides these

Mold Linker (Optional)

For faster builds, use the mold linker:

# Install mold
pacman -S mold

# Add to LDFLAGS in makepkg.conf
LDFLAGS="-fuse-ld=mold"

CCACHE

# Install ccache
pacman -S ccache

# Enable in /etc/makepkg.conf or ~/.makepkg.conf:
BUILDENV=(!distcc color ccache !check)

DistCC

# Install distcc
pacman -S distcc

# Enable in /etc/makepkg.conf or ~/.makepkg.conf:
BUILDENV=(distcc !color !ccache !check)

# Configure hosts in /etc/distcc/hosts or via environment
DISTCC_HOSTS="localhost host1 host2"

Source Management

Unique Filenames (:: Syntax)

When a source URL doesn't include a useful filename, use :: to specify one:

source=("https://example.com/download.php?file=12345::https://example.com/file.tar.gz")

This renames the downloaded file to 12345 instead of the query-string filename.

Generating .SRCINFO

For AUR submission, generate .SRCINFO:

makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO

Mandatory for AUR: Regenerate .SRCINFO whenever metadata changes (pkgver, depends, etc.). The AUR web interface uses this file - if missing or outdated, the correct version won't display.

Custom Download Agents

# In /etc/makepkg.conf or PKGBUILD
DLAGENTS=('http::/usr/bin/curl -LC - -b cookies.txt -c cookies.txt -o %o %u'
          'https::/usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -O %o %u'
          'git::git clone %u %o')

Offline Build

# Download and verify sources (prepares for offline build)
makepkg --verifysource

# Then build offline (sources must already be in SRCDEST)
makepkg

PKGBUILD Testing

Dry Run

# Download and extract only (no build)
makepkg --nobuild

# Skip prepare() function
makepkg --noprepare

Debug Functions

# Debug specific function
bash -x PKGBUILD

Package Output

Formats

# Default: .pkg.tar.zst (compressed)
makepkg

# Create source package (PKG.src.tar.zst)
makepkg --source

# Create source package with ALL sources (including downloaded during build)
makepkg --allsource

# Package only (skip build)
makepkg --pkg

Package Naming

The package name and version are defined in the PKGBUILD via pkgname and pkgver variables - they cannot be overridden via command-line flags.

Common Commands Summary

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | makepkg -s | Syncdeps: Install missing dependencies | | makepkg -i | Install: Build and install with pacman | | makepkg -c | Clean: Remove work files after build | | makepkg -C | Cleanbuild: Remove $srcdir before build | | makepkg -f | Force: Overwrite existing package | | makepkg -g | Geninteg: Generate integrity checksums | | updpkgsums | Preferred tool to update checksums | | makepkg --allsource | Create source package with all sources | | makepkg --printsrcinfo | Generate .SRCINFO for AUR | | makepkg --sign | Sign the package | | makepkg --verifysource | Verify: Download and check integrity | | makepkg --skippgpcheck | Skip PGP signature verification |

Best Practices

1. Never build as root - Use a normal user (PKGBUILDs can contain arbitrary commands)
2. Always verify sources - Check checksums with updpkgsums
3. Keep build logs - Use makepkg --log for debugging
4. Use ABS - Get official PKGBUILDs with abs
5. Test in clean environment - Use archbuild or containers
6. Sign packages - For secure distribution
7. Configure output dirs - Keep organized
8. Use SPDX license identifiers - E.g., GPL-3.0-or-later, not GPL3
9. Quote variables - Use "$pkgdir" and "$srcdir" to handle spaces
10. License AUR submissions - Recommend 0BSD license for repo files
11. Use namcap - Audit PKGBUILDs and packages for common errors
12. Never use $pkgdir/$srcdir in .install - Scripts run chrooted on target system, not build environment

Auditing Tools

# Install namcap
pacman -S namcap

# Audit PKGBUILD
namcap PKGBUILD

# Audit built package
namcap package.pkg.tar.zst

# Check for shell scripting errors
shellcheck --shell=bash --exclude=SC2034,SC2154,SC2164 PKGBUILD

Install Scripts

.install scripts run chrooted in the target system's installation directory. They do NOT have access to build-time variables like $pkgdir or $srcdir. Only use actual system paths:

# WRONG - uses build-time variables
post_install() {
  rm -rf "$pkgdir"/usr/share/cache
}

# CORRECT - uses system paths
post_install() {
  rm -rf /usr/share/cache
}

Related Skills

• aur-guides - Main dispatcher
• aur-pkgbuild - PKGBUILD creation
• aur-audit - Validation
• aur-submission - AUR submission
• aur-package-guidelines - Standards

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Pahheb
• Source: Pahheb/pahheb-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.