How to Change YAY Build Directory & ABS Directory

Yay (Yet Another Yogurt) is an AUR helper written in Golang. AUR or Arch User Repository is a software repository provided by Arch Linux for its users. We can store our custom-build packages Arch Linux repository there and share it with the others.

Yay is also a Pacman wrapper, which allows us to run the Pacman program using yay.
By default, Yay will store the build files in the $HOME/.cache/yay folder. As our storage grows over time, the partition for $HOME folder eventually runs out. In this tutorial, I will let you know how to change the YAY build folder into a different path.

Here is the output of yay –help

➜ yay --help
Usage:
    yay
    yay <operation> [...]
    yay <package(s)>

operations:
    yay {-h --help}
    yay {-V --version}
    yay {-D --database}    <options> <package(s)>
    yay {-F --files}       [options] [package(s)]
    yay {-Q --query}       [options] [package(s)]
    yay {-R --remove}      [options] <package(s)>
    yay {-S --sync}        [options] [package(s)]
    yay {-T --deptest}     [options] [package(s)]
    yay {-U --upgrade}     [options] <file(s)>

New operations:
    yay {-Y --yay}         [options] [package(s)]
    yay {-P --show}        [options]
    yay {-G --getpkgbuild} [options] [package(s)]

If no arguments are provided 'yay -Syu' will be performed
If no operation is provided -Y will be assumed

New options:
       --repo             Assume targets are from the repositories
    -a --aur              Assume targets are from the AUR

Permanent configuration options:
    --save                Causes the following options to be saved back to the
                          config file when used

    --aururl      <url>   Set an alternative AUR URL
    --builddir    <dir>   Directory used to download and run PKGBUILDS
    --absdir      <dir>   Directory used to store downloads from the ABS
    --editor      <file>  Editor to use when editing PKGBUILDs
    --editorflags <flags> Pass arguments to editor
    --makepkg     <file>  makepkg command to use
    --mflags      <flags> Pass arguments to makepkg
    --pacman      <file>  pacman command to use
    --git         <file>  git command to use
    --gitflags    <flags> Pass arguments to git
    --gpg         <file>  gpg command to use
    --gpgflags    <flags> Pass arguments to gpg
    --config      <file>  pacman.conf file to use
    --makepkgconf <file>  makepkg.conf file to use
    --nomakepkgconf       Use the default makepkg.conf

    --requestsplitn <n>   Max amount of packages to query per AUR request
    --completioninterval  <n> Time in days to refresh completion cache
    --sortby    <field>   Sort AUR results by a specific field during search
    --searchby  <field>   Search for packages using a specified field
    --answerclean   <a>   Set a predetermined answer for the clean build menu
    --answerdiff    <a>   Set a predetermined answer for the diff menu
    --answeredit    <a>   Set a predetermined answer for the edit pkgbuild menu
    --answerupgrade <a>   Set a predetermined answer for the upgrade menu
    --noanswerclean       Unset the answer for the clean build menu
    --noanswerdiff        Unset the answer for the edit diff menu
    --noansweredit        Unset the answer for the edit pkgbuild menu
    --noanswerupgrade     Unset the answer for the upgrade menu
    --cleanmenu           Give the option to clean build PKGBUILDS
    --diffmenu            Give the option to show diffs for build files
    --editmenu            Give the option to edit/view PKGBUILDS
    --upgrademenu         Show a detailed list of updates with the option to skip any
    --nocleanmenu         Don't clean build PKGBUILDS
    --nodiffmenu          Don't show diffs for build files
    --noeditmenu          Don't edit/view PKGBUILDS
    --noupgrademenu       Don't show the upgrade menu
    --askremovemake       Ask to remove makedepends after install
    --removemake          Remove makedepends after install
    --noremovemake        Don't remove makedepends after install

    --cleanafter          Remove package sources after successful install
    --nocleanafter        Do not remove package sources after successful build
    --bottomup            Shows AUR's packages first and then repository's
    --topdown             Shows repository's packages first and then AUR's

    --devel               Check development packages during sysupgrade
    --nodevel             Do not check development packages
    --rebuild             Always build target packages
    --rebuildall          Always build all AUR packages
    --norebuild           Skip package build if in cache and up to date
    --rebuildtree         Always build all AUR packages even if installed
    --redownload          Always download pkgbuilds of targets
    --noredownload        Skip pkgbuild download if in cache and up to date
    --redownloadall       Always download pkgbuilds of all AUR packages
    --provides            Look for matching providers when searching for packages
    --noprovides          Just look for packages by pkgname
    --pgpfetch            Prompt to import PGP keys from PKGBUILDs
    --nopgpfetch          Don't prompt to import PGP keys
    --useask              Automatically resolve conflicts using pacman's ask flag
    --nouseask            Confirm conflicts manually during the install
    --combinedupgrade     Refresh then perform the repo and AUR upgrade together
    --nocombinedupgrade   Perform the repo upgrade and AUR upgrade separately
    --batchinstall        Build multiple AUR packages then install them together
    --nobatchinstall      Build and install each AUR package one by one

    --sudo                <file>  sudo command to use
    --sudoflags           <flags> Pass arguments to sudo
    --sudoloop            Loop sudo calls in the background to avoid timeout
    --nosudoloop          Do not loop sudo calls in the background

    --timeupdate          Check packages' AUR page for changes during sysupgrade
    --notimeupdate        Do not check packages' AUR page for changes

show specific options:
    -c --complete         Used for completions
    -d --defaultconfig    Print default yay configuration
    -g --currentconfig    Print current yay configuration
    -s --stats            Display system package statistics
    -w --news             Print arch news

yay specific options:
    -c --clean            Remove unneeded dependencies
       --gendb            Generates development package DB used for updating

getpkgbuild specific options:
    -f --force            Force download for existing ABS packages
    -p --print            Print pkgbuild of packages

As described, we can change the default location for yay’s build directory using this command:

yay --builddir /path/to/the-new-build-dir --save

We also can change the directory that is used to store downloads from the ABS (Arch Build System) with the following command:

yay --absdir /path/to/the-new-abs-dir --save

Now, we can save more space for the $HOME partition.

How to Clean Yay build along with Pacman cache and database directory

If you want to save up more storage by cleaning up the Yay cache and its Pacman packages, run the following command:

yay -Sc

The output would be like this, press Y to confirm.

➜ yay -Sc
Packages to keep:
  All locally installed packages

Cache directory: /mnt/Others/.runtimes/pacman_cache/
:: Do you want to remove all other packages from cache? [Y/n] 
removing old packages from cache...

Database directory: /var/lib/pacman/
:: Do you want to remove unused repositories? [Y/n] 
removing unused sync repositories...

Build directory: /mnt/Others/.yay-build/
==> Do you want to remove all other AUR packages from cache? [Y/n] 
removing AUR packages from cache...
==> Do you want to remove ALL untracked AUR files? [Y/n]