Arch User Repository
Overview
Although Manjaro is 100% Arch compatible - being based on Arch itself - it is not possible access the official repositories of the Arch System to download software. Manjaro instead uses its own official repositories in order to ensure that any software packages provided (e.g. system updates and applications) are fully tested and completely stable before being released.
However, it is still possible to access additional software packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR), which is managed by the Arch community (i.e. users) themselves. Although this repository is unofficial, software packages and applications first placed here are known to make their way into Arch's official repositories if they become popular enough.
Unfortunately, as a community maintained repository, using the AUR does still pose certain risks and potential problems. The AUR may provide:
- Multiple versions of the same packages
- Out of date packages
- Broken or only partially working packages (e.g. works in progress)
- Improperly configured packages (e.g. downloading unnecessary dependencies, and/or not downloading necessary dependencies)
- Malicious packages (although extremely rare)
As such, although much (if not most) of the software packages provided by the AUR should work, do not expect the installation process to always be quite as straightforward as when using the official repositories. On occasion, it may be necessary to manually identify and install dependencies yourself after an aborted installation, for example. In addition, there is no guarantee that any installed software will work fully, if at all.