Shelly 3.1.10 improves AUR dependency handling and system upgrade transactions

Shelly, a package manager designed for Arch Linux and its derivatives, has released version 3.1.10. This update introduces significant logic changes to how the tool handles Arch User Repository (AUR) builds and system-wide upgrades.

The release focuses on improving the reliability of the package lifecycle by resolving dependencies before the build preparation stage. It also addresses common dependency failures during system upgrades by ensuring that requested packages and their required library updates are processed within a single transaction.

Technical improvements in Shelly 3.1.10

• AUR Build Logic: The tool now performs dependency planning by reading package metadata without downloading sources or executing lifecycle functions, allowing it to install build dependencies before the prepare() stage, even for nested AUR dependencies.
• Transaction Management: The shelly install standard --upgrade command has been updated to resolve system updates and requested repository packages within a single transaction, preventing failures when new packages require updated libraries.
• Error Reporting and Diagnostics: Enhanced reporting via the RLPM backend provides detailed explanations for database locks, filesystem errors, and scriptlet failures, while file-conflict diagnostics now explicitly identify affected paths and packages.
• CLI and Shell Integration: A new --names-only flag facilitates scripting by listing individual package names, and shell completions for Bash, Fish, and Zsh now query Shelly directly rather than delegating to pacman.
• Build System Update: The project has migrated its build system and native components to require Zig 0.17 for source compilation.

Why it matters

These changes provide a more robust experience for Arch Linux users who rely heavily on the AUR, reducing build-time failures caused by missing dependencies. The improved transaction handling and direct shell completions make Shelly a more efficient alternative to standard tools for power users and automated scripts.