How to Install Stellarium on Manjaro Linux

Stellarium is a free, open-source planetarium software package. The software renders the night sky in 3D, allowing users to see stars, constellations, planets, nebulae, and other astronomical objects in their correct positions relative to each other. Users can also set the time and date to see how the night sky changes. The following tutorial will teach you how to install Stellarium on Manjaro Linux. The tutorial will use the command line terminal with the Arch Linux user repository for the latest Stellarium version.

Recommended Steps Before Installation

First, update your system to ensure all existing packages are up to date. This will ensure no conflicts arise as best as possible during the installation.

sudo pacman -Syu

Sometimes, you may need a complete database download if you have not upgraded your Arch Linux system for a while; use the following command if the above update command does not work.

sudo pacman -Syyu

Lastly, for users that have Pamac installed, which most Manjaro desktops do, I would optionally suggest running an update; this will ensure that your Arch Linux and Manjaro packages are fully up-to-date.

sudo pamac checkupdates -a

sudo pamac upgrade -a

Troubleshooting Updating Manjaro Packages

Manjaro/Arch Linux is a rolling release; occasionally, updating packages with Pacman GPG keys can become invalid or corrupt. If both commands do not work, use the following command.

Note, this is only if you have errors updating with the first two commands above if you can skip these.

sudo pacman -S archlinux-keyring manjaro-keyring

sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux manjaro

The above should work in nearly all cases, but if it does not, use the following steps as a last resort.

sudo rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg

sudo pacman-key --init

sudo pacman-key --populate manjaro

sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux

sudo pacman -Syvv manjaro-keyring

Then repeat the update process.

Install Stellarium

The first task is to enable the AUR, which is disabled on Manjaro Linux by default unless you have already enabled it. Open the command line terminal and execute the following command.

sudo sed -Ei '/EnableAUR/s/^#//' /etc/pamac.conf

Now run the install command below; you can use install or build, given it’s only available from the AUR, but I would stress using the build command for best practice.

pamac build stellarium

You will next see a prompt in your terminal about selecting your preferred multimedia backend to use with Stellarium. I suggest using the default which would be 1.

Depending on your system and internet, completing the process should take 1 to 5 minutes.

How to Launch the Stellarium

Now that you have the application installed, launching can be done in a few ways.

stellarium

Additionally, you can launch from the applications menu by following the path.

Taskbar > Education > Stellarium

Once you open Stellarium, you will come across the default screen. This screen of a standard sky view will be shown. From here you can open up the settings and begin configuring or changing scopes, there is quite a few selections and interesting things to investigate.

From this point, I suggest going into the configuration menu in the top right-hand corner and customizing. For new users of this software, I highly recommend grabbing the user-guide PDF and perhaps joining the mailing list or discussions to collaborate with others.

Additional Commands & Tips

How to Update Stellarium

The best way to check for updates and upgrade Stellarium is to use the following command.

sudo pamac checkupdates -a

sudo pamac upgrade -a

How to Remove (Uninstall) Stellarium

When you no longer want the Stellarium application installed on your system, use the following command to remove it.

pamac remove stellarium

Lastly, this is optional but good practice, clear up orphans and clear your cache to reduce clutter.

Clear orphan leftovers that are no longer required.

pamac remove -o

Clear packages deleted from the package cache.

pamac clean -uv -k 0

Clear redundant package versions from the package cache (keep the last two versions)

pamac clean -v -k 2

Lastly, for users that enabled pamac and then had second thoughts about using it and instead wanted to use something else, you can easily disable it using the following command.

sudo sed -Ei '/EnableAUR/s/^/#/' /etc/pamac.conf

Comments and Conclusion

The diversity and customization of free astronomy software like Stellarium are unique and allow users to tailor their experience to fit their needs. The tutorial has successfully shown you how to install Stellarium from the AUR with CLI commands along with how to keep it up-to-date successfully.