Shelly Ships v3.1.3, Native Builder Now Runs Without External pacstrap
Shelly, the GTK4-first package manager for Arch Linux, has released v3.1.3. The update introduces shellystrap, an isolated build helper that removes the project's reliance on external pacstrap. The release also adds AUR cache cleanup, per-AppImage environment variables, and parallel downloads.
The v3.1 series has been a sprint. Shelly shipped four releases in just over two weeks. The v3.1.0 debut introduced a native PKGBUILD builder, a feature no other GUI Arch package manager currently offers. That initial release paved the way. Now, v3.1.3 gives that builder its own infrastructure.
Isolated Builds Get Their Own Legs
The headline change is shellystrap. Shelly's new libalpm-based provisioning helper sets up fresh build roots inside private namespaces using systemd-nspawn and unshare. Isolated builds no longer require pacstrap lying around on your system.
The tooling allows required source-signing keys to travel from your keyring into these isolated builds. A new shelly resolve command maps exact repository or AUR package names to their package bases. Automated builders will appreciate the new shelly --version --json flag for capability discovery.
You will still need unshare from util-linux and systemd-nspawn installed. The team warns that --no-confirm does not approve missing-key imports automatically.
The native builder received a round of polish alongside the infrastructure changes. Shell here-string parsing bugs are fixed. SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is now consistent across evaluation and build steps. Failed binary stripping warns instead of failing. This should resolve issues with packages like pi that include binaries the host's strip tool cannot handle. Multi-PGP signature verification also gets a fix, along with improved dependency planning for conditional arrays and split packages.
Housekeeping and Speed
The release notes call this a "little housekeeping, a lot of building." That tracks. New command shelly purify standard --aur-cache lets you preview and remove built AUR package archives. The --dry-run mode keeps things safe. It leaves your PKGBUILDs and checkout history alone.
Per-AppImage environment variables are now configurable from the UI or CLI. Overrides apply at launch and survive updates.
Parallel downloads respect a new ParallelDownloadCount config value. The range sits between 1 and 255. The default is 100. Old configs with invalid values fall back to the default of 100.
Desktop UX improvements include Flatpak uninstall controls, conflict prompts that name involved packages, and tray update checks that can follow a cron schedule.
Shelly is written primarily in Zig 0.16.0 with Vala components for the GTK4 frontend. You can grab v3.1.3 from CachyOS, the AUR, or the Shelly GitHub releases page. Keep in mind that Zig 0.16.0 is required if you build from source.
