pyalpm : archlinux pacman bindings in python

Wanted to toy with python and pacman. Starting with subprocess calls to `pacman` and ugly string processing. But the google fairy told me I was heading in the wrong direction.

sudo pacman -S pyalpm

5 minutes later, I choke. I can't find a way to instantiate anything. ipython helps navigating modules, 5 more minutes I find a "hack" to get a Handle and then the local package database.

import pyalpm

PATH="/var/lib/pacman"

def init():
    "() -> db"
    h = pyalpm.Handle(PATH,PATH)
    return h.get_localdb()

DB = init()

def installed_pkgs():
    return DB.pkgcache()

In [115]: pkgs = installed_pkgs()

In [116]: pkgs[:10]
Out[116]: 
[<alpm.Package("ghc-7.6.3-1-i686") at 0xb5a1b130>,
 <alpm.Package("qemu-1.5.2-1-i686") at 0xb5a1ce50>,
 <alpm.Package("chromium-29.0.1547.65-1-i686") at 0xb5a18ab0>,
 <alpm.Package("emacs-24.3-4-i686") at 0xb5a18ae0>,
 <alpm.Package("faenza-icon-theme-1.3.1-2-any") at 0xb5a18d40>,
 <alpm.Package("python-3.3.2-2-i686") at 0xb5a1ccb0>,
 <alpm.Package("jre7-openjdk-headless-7.u40_2.4.1-3-i686") at 0xb5a1b8f0>,
 <alpm.Package("gcc-4.8.1-3-i686") at 0xb5a1b080>,
 <alpm.Package("python2-2.7.5-2-i686") at 0xb5a1cd50>,

 <alpm.Package("linux-3.10.10-1-i686") at 0xb5a1c420>]

<yay/>

archlinux :: mint 15 month long swap

update: 1 pacman -Su and 2GB later, boots ok, runs fine. One little detail, kernel warns about root being mounted rw when it shouldn't .. I couldn't read, boots too fast.

Fed up by, well, my mediocrity, I boot my archlinux machine again. Firefox shows a cached version of Google News July 30th 2013. It's been a month already. I just needed a debian based distro to try docker.io, arch is supported but it needs an aufs kernel module, which requires quite a lot of disk space to compile, my partition setup forbis such an amount. Anyway, Mint 15 was a agreable experience, after a while I forgot about arch, the overall better desktop configuration (better colors schemes, fonts, themes) made it feel stabler. I greatly suffered the windows manager intercepting all my emacs keybindings. also Xmonad screens suits me better than floating windows ala Mate.

The Mint 15 machine is less old, core duo => core 2 duo, with twice the ram and a non sluggish hard drive. A lot of things were faster. But a few days ago, I messed up the user/groups in Mint, I can't sudo anymore, booting singler user is useless since I believe root doesn't have a password, which is required by ubuntu/mint recovery mode. I don't even know what group I belonged to in the first place. Now I boot arch, the disk screams but 10 seconds later I'm under Xmonad. The terminal fires up fast, emacs fires up fast. Everything seems a little more reactive. This core duo can't decode 720p without choking but for most things everything is a little better. It's not even an engineered and polished system, I blended configuration examples, tweaks from wikis until it was good enough (c).

I have to admit, I forget a lot of things. Passwords took a little time to come back. I don't remember what I told Xmonad for launching the browser or the editor, fortunately I left the default dmenu one. Day saved.

Mint is not rolling, I missed the constant contact with arch repos. I'm in for a treat now. Pacman says I have 163 presents to open before midnight. Let's see if arch breaks as easily as I read so often on r/archlinux.

$ sudo pacman -Su
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace python-distribute with extra/python-setuptools? [Y/n]
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Packages (167): ack-2.08-1  alsa-plugins-1.0.27-2  archlinux-keyring-20130818-1
                bash-4.2.045-5  binutils-2.23.2-3  bison-3.0-1
                ca-certificates-java-20130815-1  cairo-1.12.16-1  cantarell-fonts-0.0.14-1
                chromaprint-0.7-6 chromium-29.0.1547.62-1  cloc-1.60-1
                cmus-2.5.0-3  cpupower-3.10-2  cryptsetup-1.6.2-1
                curl-7.32.0-1  device-mapper-2.02.100-1  dhcpcd-6.0.5-1
                dvdauthor-0.7.1-6  emacs-24.3-4  ethtool-1:3.10-1
                fbida-2.09-3 ffmpeg-1:2.0.1-1  file-roller-3.8.4-1
                fluidsynth-1.1.6-2  fontconfig-2.10.95-1  fuse-2.9.3-1
                gcc-4.8.1-3  gcc-libs-4.8.1-3  gdb-7.6.1-1
                gettext-0.18.3.1-1  ghostscript-9.10-1  giflib-5.0.4-2
                git-1.8.4-1  glew-1.10.0-2 glib2-2.36.4-1
                glibc-2.18-3  gnokii-0.6.31-6  gnome-icon-theme-3.8.3-1
                gnome-settings-daemon-3.8.4-2  gnupg-2.0.21-1  gnuplot-4.6.3-1
                gnutls-3.2.4-1  go-2:1.1.2-2  gpgme-1.4.3-1
                graphviz-2.32.0-1  groff-1.22.2-5 grub-2.00.5086-1
                gst-libav-1.0.10-1  gst-plugins-bad-1.0.10-1  gst-plugins-base-1.0.10-1
                gst-plugins-base-libs-1.0.10-1  gst-plugins-good-1.0.10-1  gst-plugins-ugly-1.0.10-1
                gstreamer-1.0.10-1  gtk3-3.8.4-1 guvcview-1.7.1-2
                hwdetect-2013.08-2  iftop-1.0pre2-1  imagemagick-6.8.6.9-1
                imlib2-1.4.5-5  intel-dri-9.2.0-1  inxi-1.9.14-1
                iproute2-3.10.0-1  iputils-20121221-3  ipython-1.0.0-3
                isl-0.12.1-1  iso-codes-3.44-1 jdk7-openjdk-7.u40_2.4.1-3
                jre7-openjdk-7.u40_2.4.1-3  jre7-openjdk-headless-7.u40_2.4.1-3  jshon-20130815-1
                kbd-2.0.0-1  keychain-2.7.1-3  kmod-15-1
                lftp-4.4.9-1  libarchive-3.1.2-2  libbsd-0.6.0-1
                libgexiv2-0.6.1-2 libmariadbclient-5.5.32-2  libmng-2.0.2-2
                librsvg-1:2.37.0-1  libsamplerate-0.1.8-2  libtiff-4.0.3-3
                libtracker-sparql-0.16.2-1  libusbx-1.0.16-2  libvdpau-0.7-1
                libwbclient-4.0.9-1  libwebp-0.3.1-3  linux-3.10.10-1
                linux-api-headers-3.10.6-1  lirc-utils-1:0.9.0-58  llvm-libs-3.3-1
                logrotate-3.8.6-1  lshw-B.02.17-1  lvm2-2.02.100-1
                man-pages-3.53-1  mariadb-5.5.32-2  mariadb-clients-5.5.32-2
                mercurial-2.7-1  mesa-9.2.0-1 mesa-libgl-9.2.0-1
                mkinitcpio-0.15.0-1  mkinitcpio-busybox-1.21.1-2  moreutils-0.49-1
                mpd-0.17.5-1  mplayer-36285-4  mupdf-1.3-4
                nasm-2.10.09-1  netctl-1.3-1  nodejs-0.10.17-1
                nspr-4.10-2  nss-3.15.1-1 ntp-4.2.6.p5-17
                openresolv-3.5.6-1  pacman-mirrorlist-20130830-1  parallel-20130722-1
                perl-5.18.1-1  perl-error-0.17021-1  perl-file-next-1.12-1
                perl-time-duration-1:1.1-3  php-5.5.3-1  php-apache-5.5.3-1
                php-pear-5.5.3-1  pixman-0.30.2-1  powertop-2.4-1
                python-distribute-0.6.45-1 [removal]  python-numpy-1.7.1-2
                python-pip-1.4.1-2  python-pygments-1.6-2  python-setuptools-1.0-1
                python-tornado-3.1.1-1 python-virtualenv-1.10.1-1  python2-mako-0.8.1-2
                python2-markupsafe-0.18-2  python2-paramiko-1.11.0-1  racket-5.3.6-1
                redis-2.6.16-1  redshift-1.7-7  reiserfsprogs-3.6.24-1
                run-parts-4.4-1  sbcl-1.1.10-1  serf-1.3.0-1
                sip-4.15.1-1  smartmontools-6.2-1  smbclient-4.0.9-1
                sqlite-3.8.0.1-1  subversion-1.8.1-2  syslog-ng-3.4.3-1
                tcl-8.6.0-5  testdisk-6.14-1  tk-8.6.0-2
                ttf-dejavu-2.34-1  unrtf-0.21.5-1  util-linux-2.23.2-1
                valgrind-3.8.1-3  vim-7.4.0-2  vim-runtime-7.4.0-2
                wayland-1.2.1-1  x264-20130702-2  xdebug-2.2.3-3
                xf86-video-intel-2.21.15-1  xorg-xprop-1.2.2-1  xorg-xset-1.2.3-1
                xorg-xwd-1.0.6-1  youtube-dl-2013.08.30-1 zsh-5.0.2-3

Total Download Size:    484.72 MiB
Total Installed Size:   2021.43 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       27.16 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n]

recomings.

The way on is always longer than the way back. It's insufferable. Once the circle done you know, not all, maybe a little, but enough.

The trip from high to low-level is strange, often difficult. Those who dive deep enough to see the atoms, and get back up will see the combinations.

Creating requires this loop, from ideal to real. Providing the loop is what matters. Iterating will distort it as needed.

As intended.