Install .deb Packages on Arch Linux/Manjaro with Debtap

Cyrus Kao27 Jan 2022

Last modified on 22 Apr 2023 @ 06:32:41.

Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux distros use .deb file to distribute and install packages, but Arch-based Linux doesn't have that kind of feature built-in. With tools like debtap, we'll be able to convert a .deb file into an Arch Linux package with PKGBUILD then install the package with pacman.

Debian/Ubuntu is the most supported Linux distro. Softwares only provide a .deb package for installation is not uncommon:

Google Chrome's download page

Prerequisites

Install debtap from AUR:

$ yay -S debtap

Don't know how to install packages on Arch based Linux? A full guide on Two Ways to Install Packages from AUR on Arch Linux/Manjaro.

Update pkgfile and debtap database:

$ sudo debtap -u

==> Synchronizing pkgfile database...
:: Updating 3 repos...
  download complete: core                 [   948.7 KiB   872K/s  2 remaining]
  download complete: extra                [     9.2 MiB  1575K/s  1 remaining]
  download complete: community            [    24.8 MiB  1899K/s  0 remaining]
:: download complete in 13.38s            <    35.0 MiB  2.61M/s  3 files    >
:: waiting for 1 process to finish repacking repos...
==> Synchronizing debtap database...
==> Downloading latest virtual packages list...
==> Generating base group packages list...
==> All steps successfully completed!
Output

Converting `.deb` File

$ debtap pacakge.deb

==> Extracting package data...
==> Fixing possible directories structure differencies...
==> Generating .PKGINFO file...

:: Enter Packager name:
:: Enter package license (you can enter multiple licenses comma separated):

*** Creation of .PKGINFO file in progress. It may take a few minutes, please wait...

==> Checking and generating .INSTALL file (if necessary)...

:: If you want to edit .PKGINFO and .INSTALL files (in this order), press (1) For vi (2) For nano (3) For default editor (4) For a custom editor or any other key to continue:

==> Generating .MTREE file...
==> Creating final package...
==> Package successfully created!
==> Removing leftover files...
Output

Install Package

Install the generated package with pacman:

$ sudo pacman -U package.pkg.tar.zst

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