"Linux apt-get command not found" - how can I install a package in Arch Linux?

Question

I am trying to install a command in a terminal window:

sudo -s apt-get install net-tools

Result:

/bin/bash: apt-get: command not found

How can I install apt-get then?

I use the command below to find out My Linux distribution name and version:

cat /etc/*-release

I get this below:

NAME="Arch Linux"
ID=arch
PRETTY_NAME="Arch Linux"
ANSI_COLOR="0;36"
HOME_URL="https://www.archlinux.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://bbs.archlinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.archlinux.org/"

What should I do to install a command in Arch Linux?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/43124985/arch-linux-apt-get-update-equivalent-command/43127573#43127573 This should help you. — Deanie, Apr 13 '17 at 22:10

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 13 '23 at 15:59

30

First of all, Arch Linux provides a beautiful, well maintained wiki. You may want to read it first before working with Arch Linux. The pre-installed package manager is Pacman.

To install a package from the official repositories, you will need to use it like this:

# pacman -S <package name>

There is also a community-maintained version, the Arch User Repository (AUR), for packages not part of the official repository.

edited Mar 13 '23 at 15:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 11 '16 at 15:53

Marcus

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thanks for the answer and the links! they are very useful :-) – Run Feb 12 '16 at 01:29

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 17:12

9

I used page pacman/Rosetta when I moved to Arch Linux. It lists the equivalent commands for various common package managers, including APT and Pacman.

For example:

Action	Arch Linux	Red Hat Linux/ Fedora	Debian/ Ubuntu	SLES/ openSUSE	Gentoo Linux
Install a package(s)	`pacman -S`	`dnf install`	`apt install`	`zypper install`	`emerge [-a]`
Remove a package(s)	`pacman -Rs`	`dnf remove`	`apt remove`	`zypper remove`	`emerge -C`
Search for package(s)	`pacman -Ss`	`dnf search`	`apt search`	`zypper search`	`emerge -S`
Upgrade Packages	`pacman -Syu`	`dnf upgrade`	`apt update; apt upgrade`	`zypper update`	`emerge -u world`
...

edited Mar 13 '23 at 17:12

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 02 '16 at 17:34

Hany Alsamman

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I don't think "converts ... common package manager commands including apt to pacman" describes what happens. That feels like "apt update" _converts_ to "pacman update", which it doesn't. – Marcus Mar 03 '17 at 13:58
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@Marcus I don't mean what you understood, the table in the link showing each command in ubuntu and Arch , `apt upgrade -> pacman -Syu` – Hany Alsamman Mar 03 '17 at 14:17

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:13

8

If you really want to download APT, then:

Install pacaur:

pacman -S pacaur
Install APT, from pacaur (no root)

pacaur -S apt
Add some repositories
Now you have a working APT on Arch Linux

edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:13

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 19 '18 at 07:13

M KJJJ

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is there any downside to this approach? Also I see error: target not found: pacaur on the version of Arch linux that comes with RuneAudio running on Raspberry PI. – Tomachi Aug 01 '20 at 13:19

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:04

2

You can't. Arch Linux does not use the APT package system, unlike Debian-based Linuxes, like Ubuntu. Instead, it uses the Pacman package manager. However, you should try it out. Using Pacman myself, I never had a problem with it, and you can still use it in order to install packages that you can get with the APT package manager.

edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:04

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 18 '17 at 15:38

It isn't true that you can't use apt on Arch. You can install apt from the AUR. I am working on maintaining both deb and rpm packages for a tool I develop, and one of the great things about Arch is that you can install both dpkg/apt and rpm/(yum|dnf). However, I definitely recommend using pacaur to manage software that you aren't just testing. – Patrick Feb 18 '20 at 15:36

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 15:57

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Arch Linux does not generally use the APT package manager. It uses Pacman.

See the Arch wiki: Pacman

edited Mar 13 '23 at 15:57

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 11 '16 at 15:45

PenguMC

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score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:34

As Marcus mentioned, Pacman is the built-in package manager. However, it won't give you access to AUR packages.

aurman is a nice wrapper that also searches and installs from AUR.
yaourt used to be popular, but according to the AUR wiki it is insecure and not featureful.

aurman CLI works almost exactly like Pacman so you can follow a Pacman guide just the same. To get aurman:

 cd ~/Downloads
 git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/aurman.git
 cd aurman
 makepkg -Acs

 # Change xxx below to downloaded version
 sudo pacman -U aurman-xxx.pkg.tar.xz

Then, you can follow something like How to use Arch Linux package management which I also pasted into this Stack Exchange answer here: How do I install packages from the AUR?

aurman can also be found on GitHub: aurman - AUR helper with almost pacman syntax

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:23

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Arch Linux does not use APT (apt or apt-get). Instead, however, it uses Pacman. The syntax for Pacman is quite different than apt-get; it uses -S to install packages instead of install. For example, sudo pacman -S [package].

Learn more at the man page or maybe type --help. Or on the wiki: Pacman

edited Mar 13 '23 at 16:23

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 19 '21 at 19:54

TechTycho

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"Linux apt-get command not found" - how can I install a package in Arch Linux?

7 Answers7