Wiki: Working with matt

Package management is the process of installing, updating and removing software, tools and libraries. On GNU/Linux systems, package management is usually done with a package manager.

MatterLinux Package Manager

In a Matter system, package management is generally done with the MatterLinux Package Manager (matt). matt lets you install, remove, update and search different MatterLinux packages across different pools.

Installation

matt should be already installed on a MatterLinux system. However if you want to install matt from the source, then you should follow this section from the README.

Note

You should run all the matt and related commands as the root user.

Configuration

Configuration file for matt can be found at /etc/matt/config.ini. This file is used specify pools and configure general settings.

Here is the configuration shipped with the MatterLinux 24 releases:

# configuration file for matt, please see the wiki page for more information
# https://matterlinux.xyz/wiki/matt

tmpdir = /var/lib/matt/temp
datadir = /var/lib/matt/data

[base]
url = mptp://stable.matterlinux.xyz/base
# url = mptp://next.matterlinux.xyz/base

[desktop]
url = mptp://stable.matterlinux.xyz/desktop
# url = mptp://next.matterlinux.xyz/base

# [server]
# url = mptp://stable.matterlinux.xyz/server
# url = mptp://next.matterlinux.xyz/server

Lets start by breaking down the first section:

• tmpdir (path): Temporary storage directory. Used for extracting temporary files and usually this directory will be cleaned after an operation.

• datadir (path): Persistent storage directory. Used for storing package databases and pool information.

Next sections specify the pools. Section name is the pool name, and it should match with the actual pool name. Pool options are:

• url (URL): Pool URL, only mptp protocol is supported.
• signing (yes/no): Enable/disable PGP signature verification for the pool, by default it’s enabled.

Important

Do NOT disable signature verification if you don’t know what are you doing! There is no way to confirm the legitimacy of the packages without signature verification!

Options

matt also has a few other options that you specify as an arguments/parameters. You can list these options using the --help option:

# matt --help

You can also list options for specific commands, for example:

# matt info --help
# matt list --help

Syncing pools

To sync remote pool information and package lists, you can use the sync command:

# matt sync

After syncing remote pools, matt will provide public keys for the available pools. You can add these keys to your keyring with gpg:

# gpg --receive-keys [fingerprint]

Installing packages

To install a package, you can use the install command:

# matt install which

After running this command matt will attempt to find, download and verify the which package, and then install it.

You can also install packages from local archives:

# matt install which_2.21.mpf

And you can install multiple packages at once:

# matt install grub systemd linux

Removing/Uninstalling packages

To remove an installed package, you can use the remove command:

# matt remove which

You can also remove multiple packages:

# mp-remove git curl

Updating packages

You can update all of the installed packages using the update command:

# matt update

Querying packages

You can get more information about a package by querying it. For example to get more information about the which package:

# matt info which

This will provide the following information about the package:

• Name of the package
• Version
• Description
• Size
• Dependencies
• If the package is installed
• If the package is up-to-date

List packages

You can list all the installed packages with the list command:

# matt list

Other package managers

It’s a really bad idea to use multiple package managers as they may conflict and may result in an unstable system. However package managers such as flatpak and snap offer containerized packages, making them possible to use with other package managers. However currently none of these package managers are available in the official pools. If you want to use them, you will need to install them from the source.