I’m an independent developer and I’ve been working on NeoArch for a while, so I thought I’d share it here and see what people think.
NeoArch is an open-source package and system management application for Arch Linux. The main idea is to have a single GUI for things that normally require different tools or terminal commands. It currently supports pacman, AUR, Flatpak, and npm, and I’ve been adding more system-management features around them.
The GUI can handle things like installing and removing packages, updates and downgrades, .pacnew files and three-way merging, package cache and orphan cleanup, keyring management, system health checks, backups and snapshots, scheduled updates, AppImages, security scanning, and Arch Linux news.
There is also a CLI version for people who prefer the terminal. I’m continuing to work on both versions and add new functionality.
I’m maintaining the project myself, and there are currently two AUR packages: neoarch for stable releases and neoarch-git for the latest development version.
The source code is on GitHub:
The project website is available as well, but Reddit currently doesn’t allow me to submit that domain.
I’d genuinely like to hear what Arch/Linux users think about it, especially if there are things you think could be improved or features that would make it more useful.
Yet Another Useless Package Manager. Every bit of this needs to be understood and known how to do by the USER BEFORE using a program like this and sadly most users today can’t even read a basic PKGBUILD.
Its projects like this that make it easier for People to download Malicious Software because they don’t know the first thing about managing the package system of the OS they choose to use.
Tools like this have their place but should be reserved for those who are already familiar with Arch and its Packaging system and Yet that will be the last group to use such a tool as this.
I understand your concern, especially regarding the AUR and users blindly installing things they don’t understand. I agree that Arch users should learn how the package system works and shouldn’t blindly trust any GUI or AUR helper.
At the same time, NeoArch isn’t something I’m building as a commercial product or to make money from. I’m an independent developer and I’ve been working on it for around two years in my own free time, as an open-source project. The goal was simply to build something useful for Arch users and learn from the process.
I don’t want NeoArch to replace understanding Arch. A GUI should be a tool, not a reason for someone to stop learning what is happening underneath. That’s something I’m still trying to improve, especially around package information, AUR transparency, and security.
I appreciate the criticism, even if I don’t completely agree with the conclusion. It gives me something to think about as I continue developing it.
This makes it even worse what happens when you get burned out from working on the project? Who is going to take it over and who is going to help those who are having issues with it?
You would have been better off writing out an Arch Tutorial. Maybe a deep dive into Package Management and showing users how to read PKGBUILDS the importance of understanding when to merge a .pacnew and when to just ignore it. However these projects always inevitably lead to users using the tool without really understanding what it does. This is where NEW to Arch users really need help. They don’t need another way to easily install malware on their machines.
Don’t get me wrong As state earlier Projects like this have their place however the newb will always end up being the one who chooses these types of tools without really having an understanding of what is actually happening.
As much as I really don’t care for Shelly at least they have a team.
I understand the concern about being a solo maintainer. That’s something I’ve thought about as well. NeoArch is open source, so if I ever stop maintaining it, the code is still available for someone else to fork or continue. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that someone will take it over, but that’s one of the realities of many independent open-source projects.
As for beginners, I agree that people shouldn’t use Arch without learning at least the basics of how the system and package management work. I don’t want NeoArch to be a replacement for that knowledge, and I don’t think a GUI should give users the impression that they can blindly install anything safely.
At the same time, I don’t think making a GUI automatically means encouraging people to ignore how Arch works. There are experienced users who simply prefer a graphical workflow for some tasks, and that’s one of the groups I’m building NeoArch for as well.
I appreciate the point about documentation and tutorials too. That’s actually something I could contribute alongside the software, rather than treating NeoArch as a replacement for learning.
I’m not claiming NeoArch is perfect or that everyone needs it. I’m just an independent developer who has spent the last couple of years building something I personally wanted to exist and making it available as open source. I’m still learning and improving it, including the security and transparency side.
The feedback you will hear here will be a bit harsh because most of us do the package management using the terminal, but you can use it as an opportunity to improve your app! Good luck!
Ah. Looks actually pretty nice.
Pamac has this nice description for applications and distingushed between “libs” and things user can actually interact with.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I understand that most people here are comfortable with the terminal, and I’m not expecting everyone to see a need for a GUI like NeoArch. I’m mainly sharing it to get feedback and learn from people who know Arch well. I’ll definitely take the criticism as an opportunity to improve the project. Thanks for the encouragement!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the encouragement. NeoArch also has CLI support, so I’m not trying to replace the terminal workflow.
I’m also not claiming that everything is perfect or that there are no bugs. The best part for me is that I’m continuously developing it. I use NeoArch myself every day, and before I finish for the night I usually spend some time fixing bugs, improving things, or adding new features. There’s still a lot I want to improve, and feedback from experienced Arch users helps me figure out what to work on next.
And yes, that’s a good point about the application descriptions and distinguishing between actual applications and libraries.
I’ll definitely look into improving that part of NeoArch. Making it easier to understand what a package is and whether it’s something the user actually interacts with is useful, especially when there are so many packages in the repositories.
I got a question, what is with people making an account here to share a program? This is the second one I have seen in the last few days and I am sure I saw another recently too just can’t find it. I wouldn’t care if it was someone who had been part of the community for a while but I find it worrying after the recent AUR attacks and wondering if something more is up here. I personally won’t be trusting this or any program that is instantly shared by a new user.
forums! 
