Release Notes

Shelly v3.1.5 brings an optional Atoll-powered AUR browser, a build-and-install command, and native tools for maintaining your own package repositories. The builder also gets another round of compatibility fixes, from dependency-only metapackages to packages with unusual permissions and source archives.

Everyday package management gets some attention, too: standard searches return matching packages again, AUR installs gain --needed, AppImages are easier to remove, and errors explain more of what went wrong.

🏝️ Explore the AUR with Atoll

Enable Atoll Powered AUR in Advanced settings to use the new AUR page. Browse a paginated package list, sort by votes or popularity, and choose Best Match, Name, Provides, or Words from the Search By dropdown. Package details include dependency information, with installed and out-of-date indicators in the list.

The option is off by default. Switching it on also points Shelly's CLI AUR service at Atoll; switching it off restores the Arch AUR service.

Terminal AUR search results now include clickable package links when using the Arch AUR or Atoll. Other configured services keep plain-text package names, and failed AUR requests provide more useful diagnostics.

🏗️ Build it, then install it

shelly build now supports --install (-l). Combine it with --sync-deps to install missing build dependencies, build the package, and install the resulting archives:

shelly build --sync-deps --install
# Short form:
shelly build -s -l

Administrator credentials are requested up front, while the build runs as your regular user. Installation also works with isolated builds after the completed archives are exported.

The install shortcut is -l; -i remains the shortcut for --isolated.

🛠️ More PKGBUILDs, fewer build failures

This release improves several parts of the native builder:

• Dependency-only metapackages, including recipes without a package() function, can now produce valid packages.
• Empty or zero epochs no longer introduce a leading colon into package versions. AUR update comparisons also handle affected installed versions correctly, fixing repeated update offers.
• Packages with restrictive directory permissions, such as snapd, can be assembled and cleaned up without leaving failed builds that block retries.
• Global build dependencies are kept separate from split-package runtime dependencies, allowing conflicting outputs to be built together.
• Source extraction handles hard links, forward hard-link chains, and literal backslashes in filenames more accurately. Array expansion and here-string parsing have also been improved.
• Isolated builds run guest package hooks during provisioning, improve compatibility with restrictive umasks, and preserve virtual ownership for external packaging helpers.

These changes address build failures involving packages such as Heroic, GStreamer, libblockdev, CUPS, and FUSE, alongside improvements for automated builds.

⚙️ Take control of your build environment

Native builds now use a predictable system PATH, fixing failures caused by inheriting an unsuitable path from privilege elevation. Add custom toolchain directories through build.extra_path in shellybuild.conf.

The new build.env setting supplies literal environment variables to the unprivileged builder:

[build]
extra_path = ["/home/your-user/.cargo/bin"]
env = { JAVA_HOME = "/usr/lib/jvm/default" }

Elevated native builds also preserve the caller's locale settings, with C.UTF-8 as the fallback for a missing or empty LANG.

Upgrade note: tools previously found only through your terminal's PATH must now be listed in build.extra_path. Use absolute paths; shell variables and ~ are not expanded. For isolated builds, configured paths must exist inside the guest.

📦 Repository tools built into Shelly

The new shelly repo-db commands maintain pacman-compatible repository databases directly:

shelly repo-db add ./myrepo.db.tar.zst ./example-1.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
shelly repo-db list ./myrepo.db.tar.zst
shelly repo-db remove ./myrepo.db.tar.zst example
shelly repo-db verify ./myrepo.db.tar.zst

Database updates maintain both package and file indexes. Options cover signing, downgrade prevention, waiting for database locks, and removing replaced package archives after publication.

🔍 Search and install improvements

• shelly search standard and shelly -Ss search available repository packages by default again, including compound names such as phonon-qt6. Use --detail for one exact package's metadata or --installed to search installed packages.
• AUR installs now accept --needed to skip building and reinstalling matching installed versions, including individual split-package members. Dynamic versions and VCS packages may still require a build.
• AUR installs verify that requested packages and AUR build dependencies are still listed by the configured service. Removed packages cannot be installed from a leftover checkout; when an exact repository match exists, Shelly suggests a standard install. Explicit local builds remain available.
• Fixed repository Include parsing so server URLs and policies stay associated with the correct repository.
• Expanded TLS support fixes secure-connection failures with repositories such as BlackArch.
• Added Nerd Font progress-bar rendering for compatible terminal fonts. For this release, enable it by setting "ProgressBarStyle": "Nerdfont" directly in the CLI's config.json; shelly config set does not yet accept the new value.

✨ Desktop and AppImage improvements

• Install optional dependencies directly from package details, with clearer selection controls and installed-state indicators.
• Package details load more smoothly, reducing content flicker while navigating.
• Open local .flatpakref and .flatpak files with Shelly to start installation. Shelly now appears in the file manager's Open With choices for these files.
• Remove stale AppImage entries even when their files are missing, and correctly handle installations whose recorded name differs from the filename.
• Improved AppImage desktop-entry detection and icon selection, including choosing higher-resolution icons.
• Malformed JSON settings recover to defaults across the CLI, desktop, and tray, keeping a .corrupt copy when possible. Settings writes also better withstand interruption.
• Clearer errors across package operations explain the failure and retain technical details for troubleshooting.

🌍 Translations and thanks

This release completes the European Portuguese translation and updates German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Turkish translations.

Thank you to everyone who contributed code, translations, testing, and reports: @ZoeyErinBauer, @caroberrie, @azdanov, @VinnyQF, @NateKing204, @Henry2o1o, @Mattyan89, @adem4ik, @juliazero, @pdf, @Ricardo-Simoes, and @mehmetakifongun.

Full Changelog: v3.1.4…4a0d0348

Release pull request: #1972