Package Manager

Modularitea’s package management system takes a profile-based approach to software installation. Instead of searching for individual packages, you install curated software profiles — pre-configured bundles of packages and services designed for specific use cases.

App Store (Profile Installer)

Browsing Profiles

When you open Modularitea, the Home page displays all available software profiles in a grid layout. Each profile card shows:

  • The profile name and description
  • The category (e.g., development, multimedia, gaming)
  • The number of packages included
  • A preview of the included package names

You can visually scan the grid to find profiles that match your needs.

Available Profile Categories

TeaLinuxOS ships with 28 pre-built profiles across the following categories:

CategoryExample ProfilesDescription
DevelopmentDeveloper Essentials, JavaScript, PHP, Python, C++/Java, Go/RustProgramming languages, tools, and frameworks
DevOpsContainer, Kubernetes & Cloud, VirtualizationDocker, Podman, k8s tools, VirtualBox, QEMU
Data & AIData Science, AI PackJupyter, R, Python ML libraries
DesignDesignInkscape, GIMP, and UI/UX tools
MultimediaMultimedia, Audio & VideoMedia players, editors, and recording tools
NetworkingNetwork & Security, InternetSecurity tools, browsers, communication apps
ProductivityOffice, Student & TeacherLibreOffice, educational tools
SystemBackup & Optimization, Utility & DriverSystem maintenance and hardware support
GamingGamingSteam, Lutris, and gaming utilities
OtherFonts, Islamic Education, Mobile, Embedded & IoTSpecialized tool collections

Viewing Profile Details

Click on a profile card to see its full details, including:

  • Complete package list — All official repository packages that will be installed
  • AUR packages — Community packages from the Arch User Repository
  • Services — Systemd services that will be enabled after installation

Installing a Profile

To install a software profile:

  1. Find the profile you want on the Home page.
  2. Click the Install button on the profile card.
  3. Authenticate — A PolicyKit dialog will appear asking for your administrator password.
  4. Wait for completion — The profile card will show a loading animation during installation.
  5. Verify — Once complete, a success notification will confirm the installation.

During installation, Modularitea:

  1. Updates the package database (pacman -Sy).
  2. Installs all official packages (pacman -S <packages>).
  3. Enables any required systemd services (systemctl enable <service>).
  4. Reports the result back to the UI.

Note: AUR packages are currently listed in profiles but their automatic installation is a work in progress. A warning will appear for profiles containing AUR packages.

Removing a Profile

To uninstall a previously installed profile:

  1. Navigate to the profile’s detail view.
  2. Click the Uninstall button.
  3. Authenticate with your administrator password.
  4. Modularitea will remove the profile’s packages and disable its services.

Important: When removing a profile, Modularitea uses pacman -R by default. If a package is a dependency of another installed package, it will be skipped to prevent system breakage. The force option (pacman -Rdd) is available but should be used with caution.

Updating Packages

To update all installed packages on your system:

  1. Navigate to the Settings page.
  2. Use the system update functionality (see Maintenance for details).

Modularitea uses pacman -Syu to perform a full system upgrade, which updates all installed packages — including those installed through profiles.

Package Management Operations

Behind the scenes, Modularitea provides the following package management commands through its Tauri backend:

OperationBackend CommandDescription
Install packagespkexec pacman -S --noconfirm <packages>Install one or more packages
Remove packagespkexec pacman -R --noconfirm <packages>Remove packages (respects dependencies)
Force removepkexec pacman -Rdd --noconfirm <packages>Remove packages (ignores dependencies)
Update databasepkexec pacman -SySynchronize the package database
Check installedpacman -Q <package>Check if a package is installed
Install profileInstall packages + enable servicesFull profile installation workflow
Uninstall profileRemove packages + disable servicesFull profile removal workflow

Integration with pacman

Modularitea is a frontend for pacman — the standard Arch Linux package manager. It does not replace pacman or use a separate package database. This means:

  • Packages installed via Modularitea are visible in pacman — You can run pacman -Q to see them.
  • Packages installed via terminal are visible in Modularitea — The profile system checks installed packages in real time.
  • System updates via pacman -Syu include Modularitea-installed packages — There is no separate update channel.

How Privilege Escalation Works

Modularitea does not run as root. Instead, it uses PolicyKit (pkexec) to escalate privileges only when needed:

  1. You click an action that requires root access (e.g., install packages).
  2. Modularitea calls the appropriate backend binary via pkexec.
  3. PolicyKit displays a system authentication dialog.
  4. You enter your password.
  5. The binary executes with root privileges and returns the result.
  6. Modularitea displays the result in the UI.

This approach is safer than running the entire application as root, because only the specific operation runs with elevated privileges.

Example: Installing a Web Development Environment

Here is a complete walkthrough of installing the JavaScript development profile:

  1. Open Modularitea.
  2. On the Home page, find the “JavaScript” profile card.
  3. Review the included packages: nodejs, npm, bun, and related tools.
  4. Click Install.
  5. Enter your administrator password when prompted.
  6. Wait for the installation to complete (the card shows a progress indicator).
  7. Once complete, open a terminal and verify:
node --version
npm --version

Both commands should now return version numbers, confirming the successful installation.