If you treat Termux as a Linux distribution, you will find that the main package repository uses rolling updates. It uses APT as its package manager, consumes .deb packages, and the Python and Clang versions in the repository are kept as close to upstream as possible.
But some packages are too new! What if I want older software? Use some third-party repository of unknown origin? At this point, you can use TUR repo to supplement packages.
TUR’s full name is Termux User Repository. According to maintainer licy183, TUR tries to become a “trustworthy third-party Termux package repository”. Its concept is similar to Arch Linux’s AUR, allowing users to freely submit packages.
This way, users who want to install specific software do not need to add third-party PPAs or run third-party scripts.
Although you can see the build commands for each package in TUR’s Github repository, TUR does not let you compile packages locally like AUR. There are no PKGBUILDs; the packages collected there are already compiled.
The TUR repository specializes in collecting some garbage, no, packages that are not suitable for the main repository, such as:
- GCC. The Termux main repository only has Clang; the reason is here
- Precompiled PyPi executables, such as
numpy,scipy, andplaywright - Old Python versions. Because Termux is rolling-release, Python versions update too quickly, and you may need to temporarily switch to an older version.
- Hacker software, such as
zphisherandnbtscan. The Termux development team is very annoyed by script kiddies who watch a few Indian Youtube videos and then ask questions all over Reddit, so the main repository states clearly that hacker tools are not accepted. - Proprietary software
- Software that supports multilib
- Old NodeJS versions
- Old Clang versions
- Obscure software
1. Install TUR repo#
Open Termux and install TUR repo:
pkg install tur-repo
pkg update && pkg upgradeAfter that, you can use pkg search to search for packages.
For example, TUR Repo has the Chromium browser, which is not yet included in Termux’s main repository, as well as the text-only carbonyl:
Now you can finally install GCC in Termux
It also includes many Python versions, so there is less need to install proot Anaconda
When installing specific PyPi packages through pip, you can specify the --extra-index-url URL and let pip download precompiled packages from the TUR repository instead
python -m pip install "套件名稱" --extra-index-url https://termux-user-repository.github.io/pypi/2. Submit packages to TUR#
The method for submitting packages is the same as in the official repository.
Note that TUR is not the official Termux package repository. To report issues for specific packages, please report them at TUR’s Github repository.
