Linux – How to keep two versions of the same package in archlinux

arch linuxpacman

I'm running Archlinux. Recently, one of the package named icu got updated; however, Firefox depends libicuuc.so.56, while R depends on libicuuc.so.55. How can I solve this problem?

Note: the R package was built against Intel MKL libiary, so it doesn't work on new version of dependencies. I tried to rebuild R — it still depends on the old libicuuc.so.55

Best Answer

I assume you wish to run a specific executable with the old library. Let's call the executable myprogram.

If you place libicuuc.so.55 in a different directory, for instance as /opt/oldlibs/libicuuc.so.55 it is possible to instruct myprogram to use the old library with a command like this:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/oldlibs myprogram

The library files can be extracted from the package file (that you can probably find in /var/cache/pacman/pkg).

If this does not solve the issue for how you intend to use the application, you can consider running it in a restricted environment (using chroot) or in a container instead.

Related Solutions

Linux – View notes for certain package in ArchLinux without package removal

All of the packages can be viewed online in the Arch Package Database. Once you have located your package, simply view it in svntogit.

If you use surfraw, there is even an elvis for the package database...

Another alternative to Chris' answer is, if you have ABS installed, is just to read the PKGBUILD or $pkg-install file from your /var:

For example, if you wanted to read the mplayer files, you could just:

vim /var/abs/extra/mplayer/PKGBUILD

^{Note: running Arch without using ABS is like swimming fully clothed; you can do it, it's just not as much fun...}

Centos – how can i install pacman (Archlinux Package manager) with its repo (AUR) in CentOS7

You can install and use pacman but you can't use AUR repo in CentOS 7

Arch users having to temporarily deal with another Linux distribution can use pacapt, a simple wrapper around other package managers.

To install pacapt run the following commands:

sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/pacapt \
https://github.com/icy/pacapt/raw/ng/pacapt
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/pacapt
sudo ln -sv /usr/local/bin/pacapt /usr/local/bin/pacman || true

Best Answer

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Linux – View notes for certain package in ArchLinux without package removal

Centos – how can i install pacman (Archlinux Package manager) with its repo (AUR) in CentOS7

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