How to Install Google Chrome in Arch-based Linux Distributions?

Google Chrome is a world-wide very popular browser. Google Chrome is not an open-source project, hence chrome is not preinstalled on Linux systems. The installation of Google Chrome on Linux distributions like Ubuntu is very easy. For Arch Linux and Arch-based distributions, Google Chrome is available on Arch User Repository(AUR).

We will install google-chrome on arch Linux by two methods.

Method 1: Installing Google Chrome with an AUR Helper

For installation of packages from the AUR, We can use the AUR helper to install Google Chrome. To install chrome on Arch Linux, first, we need to install the AUR helper on the system.

Installing AUR helper

There are many AUR helpers by using which we can install the AUR packages, but for this tutorial, we are going to use yay AUR helper. To install the yay AUR helper, first, we need to install the git and base-devel group package on the system. So to install the git on the system, use the following command:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git

To install yay on the Arch, use the following commands:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git
cd yay-git
makepkg -sri

Now we have installed the yay AUR helper on the system. yay provide similar flags like Pacman to manage the packages. So to install the packages using the yay use -S option with yay command. 

Installing chrome:

To install the google-chrome on Arch with yay, use the following command:

yay -S google-chrome

Yay shows all package related to the Google Chrome and ask to choose which package have to install. So we have chosen default (1) package.

Upgrading chrome with yay:

Packages installed with yay are not upgraded with pacman command, we have to upgrade the chrome with the yay AUR helper. To update the package use -Suy option with yay command.

yay -Suy

This command will update all packages.

Method 2: Install Google Chrome without an AUR Helper

We can install the google-chrome without using the AUR helper by cloning the repo from the AUR.

Installing dependency:

 To install the packages from AUR we must have installed the git and base-devel group package on the system. To install these packages, use the following command:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git

Installing chrome:

To install the chrome, clone the google-chrome AUR repo. Use the following command to install Google Chrome:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/google-chrome.git
cd google-chrome
makepkg -sri

Upgrading chrome:

We have to manually upgrade the google-chrome when its new version is available on the AUR repo. So to upgrade the package using the following command in the chrome repo cloned directory.

git pull
makepkg -si