Uncrate
Installs upstream .deb and .rpm packages natively on Arch Linux
What it is
Uncrate installs upstream Linux desktop packages on Arch without waiting for an AUR recipe to catch up. You drop a .deb or .rpm, it shows you exactly what the package would change, and it installs it natively with dependencies and desktop integration handled. When it cannot establish compatibility, it tells you the exact blocker before changing anything.
It is a Rust, GTK4, and libadwaita app with a strong safety posture. Packages are inspected in a bubblewrap sandbox with no network or home-directory access and strict resource limits. Dependency discovery reads static ELF and interpreter data instead of running ldd or any vendor code. Rather than dropping foreign files onto the system, it reconstructs a validated native Arch package and installs it through pacman, with a root-owned manifest written under /var/lib/uncrate before the transaction so ownership is tracked.
It is a prerelease at alpha7, but the engine has been exercised against 80-plus real packages, with a deliberately heavy test suite.
Features
- Drop a .deb or .rpm, review the real changes, then install through pacman
- Packages inspected in a bubblewrap sandbox with no network or home access
- Rebuilds the payload into a native Arch package before it touches the host
- Static ELF and interpreter dependency discovery, no ldd or vendor execution
- Root-owned manifests written before pacman runs, for tracked ownership
- Optional per-user startup or background service, both off by default
Stack
~17,000 lines of Rust · 799 tests · 80+ real packages validated