yay AUR exact match gets buried in list of possible package matches

[ryanerwin]

Affected Version

 ❯ yay --version
yay v9.2.0 - libalpm v11.0.3

Issue

When an AUR package name is an exact match for your search term, the package is frequently still buried in the middle of the list of possible packages. None of the --sortby options will bring your exact match to number one on the results list.

Steps to reproduce

1. First, note that "authenticator" is an exact package name match in AUR
   https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/authenticator/
2. Run: yay authenticator...
3. Any permutation of yay --sortby <votes|popularity|id|baseid|name|base|submitted|modified> authenticator gets basically the same result.

Output

yay authenticator, exact match is #19 in results

 ❯ yay authenticator
39 aur/perl-auth-googleauthenticator 0.0.3-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    Perl/CPAN module Net::Google::Authenticator
38 aur/gashell 0.91-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    A bash script that generates and securely manages/stores Google Authenticator codes.
37 aur/authenticator-git 3.32.1.r34.g302fb8b-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    2FA code generator for GNOME
36 aur/certbot-ovh 0.1-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    OVH DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
35 aur/openvpn-otp 1.0-3 (+0 0.00%) 
    This plugin adds support for TOTP and HOTP tokens (like Google Authenticator) for OpenVPN.
34 aur/aws-iam-authenticator-git v0.4.0.r5.gc2d2884d-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    A tool to use AWS IAM credentials to authenticate to a Kubernetes cluster
33 aur/authprogs-git a-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    SSH Command Authenticator
32 aur/certbot-dns-inwx-git 20180409.d59cb0f-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    INWX DNS authenticator plugin for certbot - GIT version
31 aur/certbot-dns-henet-git r16.931e2c7-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    he.net DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
30 aur/certbot-dns-alwaysdata 0.27.1-1 (+0 0.00%) 
    Alwaysdata DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
29 aur/roundcube-twofactor-git r48.a2d33ef-1 (+1 0.00%) (Out-of-date 2019-03-10) 
    Adds two-factor authentication through Google Authenticator.
28 aur/hostapd-rtl 2.4-2 (+2 0.00%) (Orphaned) (Out-of-date 2018-02-03) 
    IEEE 802.11 AP, IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP/RADIUS Authenticator
27 aur/pwauth 2.3.11-6 (+3 0.00%) 
    An authenticator designed to be used for web authentication
26 aur/keepass-plugin-keeotp-beta 1.3.7-1 (+3 0.00%) (Out-of-date 2017-01-13) 
    KeePass plugin that generates TOTPs from secrets stored in the KeePass database (ie: Google Authenticator, other RFC 6238 compliant TOTP implementations) (Beta version)
25 aur/hostapd-git 20170315.6c2056abe-1 (+3 0.00%) 
    IEEE 802.11 AP, IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP/RADIUS Authenticator
24 aur/aws-iam-authenticator-bin 0.4.0-1 (+3 0.07%) 
    A tool to use AWS IAM credentials to authenticate to a Kubernetes cluster
23 aur/jauth-git r63.bbe0a11-1 (+4 0.00%) 
    A reference desktop client for the google authenticator
22 aur/python-bna 4.1.0-1 (+4 0.00%) 
    Command-line Battle.net authenticator and Python library
21 aur/steamguard-cli-git 0.3.2.0.r1.g8c11d22-1 (+5 0.00%) 
    A linux utility for setting up and using Steam Mobile Authenticator (AKA Steam 2FA) on the command line
20 aur/hostapd-rtl871xdrv 2.6-2 (+8 0.00%) 
    IEEE 802.11 AP, IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP/RADIUS Authenticator
19 aur/authenticator 3.32.1-3 (+8 0.84%) 
    2FA code generator for GNOME
18 aur/keepass-plugin-keeotp 1.3.9-1 (+9 0.00%) 
    KeePass plugin that generates TOTPs from secrets stored in the KeePass database (ie: Google Authenticator, other RFC 6238 compliant TOTP implementations)
17 aur/google-authenticator-libpam-git r120.c1b3879-1 (+32 0.00%) 
    PAM module for google authenticator app
16 community/libpam-google-authenticator 1.06-1 (37.4 KiB 141.0 KiB) 
    PAM module for google authenticator app
15 community/hostapd 2.8-1 (506.7 KiB 1.4 MiB) 
    IEEE 802.11 AP, IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP/RADIUS Authenticator
14 community/certbot-dns-sakuracloud 0.35.1-1 (8.9 KiB 21.0 KiB) 
    Sakura Cloud DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
13 community/certbot-dns-route53 0.35.1-1 (13.3 KiB 41.0 KiB) 
    Route53 DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
12 community/certbot-dns-rfc2136 0.35.1-1 (13.3 KiB 43.0 KiB) 
    NS1 DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
11 community/certbot-dns-ovh 0.35.1-1 (9.4 KiB 22.0 KiB) 
    OVH DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
10 community/certbot-dns-nsone 0.35.1-1 (8.8 KiB 20.0 KiB) 
    NS1 DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
9 community/certbot-dns-luadns 0.35.1-1 (8.8 KiB 20.0 KiB) 
    LuaDNS DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
8 community/certbot-dns-linode 0.35.1-1 (9.8 KiB 29.0 KiB) 
    Linode DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
7 community/certbot-dns-google 0.35.1-1 (22.0 KiB 107.0 KiB) 
    Google Cloud DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
6 community/certbot-dns-gehirn 0.35.1-1 (8.9 KiB 21.0 KiB) 
    Gehirn DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
5 community/certbot-dns-dnsmadeeasy 0.35.1-1 (9.0 KiB 21.0 KiB) 
    DNS Made Easy DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
4 community/certbot-dns-dnsimple 0.35.1-1 (8.7 KiB 19.0 KiB) 
    DNSimple DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
3 community/certbot-dns-digitalocean 0.35.1-1 (11.7 KiB 35.0 KiB) 
    DigitalOcean DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
2 community/certbot-dns-cloudxns 0.35.1-1 (8.9 KiB 20.0 KiB) 
    CloudXNS DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
1 community/certbot-dns-cloudflare 0.35.1-1 (12.2 KiB 39.0 KiB) 
    Cloudflare DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot
==> Packages to install (eg: 1 2 3, 1-3 or ^4)
==> 

yay -Pg

 ❯ yay -Pg
{
        "aururl": "https://aur.archlinux.org",
        "buildDir": "/home/ryan/.cache/yay",
        "editor": "",
        "editorflags": "",
        "makepkgbin": "makepkg",
        "makepkgconf": "",
        "pacmanbin": "pacman",
        "pacmanconf": "/etc/pacman.conf",
        "tarbin": "bsdtar",
        "redownload": "no",
        "rebuild": "no",
        "answerclean": "",
        "answerdiff": "",
        "answeredit": "",
        "answerupgrade": "",
        "gitbin": "git",
        "gpgbin": "gpg",
        "gpgflags": "",
        "mflags": "",
        "sortby": "votes",
        "gitflags": "",
        "removemake": "ask",
        "requestsplitn": 150,
        "sortmode": 0,
        "completionrefreshtime": 7,
        "sudoloop": false,
        "timeupdate": false,
        "devel": false,
        "cleanAfter": false,
        "gitclone": true,
        "provides": true,
        "pgpfetch": true,
        "upgrademenu": true,
        "cleanmenu": true,
        "diffmenu": true,
        "editmenu": false,
        "combinedupgrade": false,
        "useask": false
}

My preference would be that an exact match between the yay parameter in the package name, would always be 1st on the list, with additional versions of that same package (authenticator-git in this case) should come next, and then the search results after that.

[Jguer]

https://github.com/Jguer/yay/blob/f406866a458d1dd5ed737b9671377002e1c46d5d/query.go#L104

Leaving this here as it is the relevant function doing this.

[Morganamilo]

I have nothing against changing the sorter to prefer exact matches. But if you're looking for an exact match up front then just use -S.

[SampsonCrowley]

I wish I knew go so I could make this happen. really sick of having to search through a giant list to update IgnorePkg items like postgres & postgres-libs

Also how is "postgresql" not the number 1 match to searching "postgresql" anyways?

[SampsonCrowley]

I would really like to know how ordering is handled, since a lot of the time it seems that less exact matches are shown before closer exact matches

[Morganamilo]

Searches are ranked by popularity, or was it votes? One of the two.

[Jguer]

AUR ones, by vote almost sure
Repo ones, by repository (if you change the order of your repos in /etc/pacman.conf you'll see your searches move accordingly

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

makes it print core->extra->community in search.
Inside each repo its' alphabetic sort <- this is where improvements can be made (or not, depends on what you like) or you can make a complete cocktail and mix all packages from all repos ( possibly rating 0% to 100% the match and ordering by that metric)

[Jguer]

For repos this is used to get candidates:
https://github.com/Jguer/yay/blob/f406866a458d1dd5ed737b9671377002e1c46d5d/query.go#L261

To print:
https://github.com/Jguer/yay/blob/f406866a458d1dd5ed737b9671377002e1c46d5d/print.go#L107

[Fabian42]

I'm using yay v9.4.6 - libalpm v12.0.1 and community/virtualbox is the 31st of 89 search results for "virtualbox".

[Fabian42]

Another highlight: extra/tk is the 62nd out of 1935 search results for "tk". If I zoom out enough in the console to see it, I can barely read anything anymore.
The sixth result is this:

6 extra/avahi 0.8+15+ge8a3dd0-1 (435.9 KiB 1.8 MiB) (Installed)
    Service Discovery for Linux using mDNS/DNS-SD -- compatible with Bonjour

Apart from "KiB", this doesn't even contain a "k"!

[grandchild]

Yes, thank you @Fabian42 , I think it is clear what the issue is how especially alphabetically "low" packages from extra and community might be way, way scrolled up the list.

Which of the possible sortings mentioned above you'd prefer might instead be of some interest (rather than simply repeating the already established problem):

1. Exact matches sorted at the front within the repo (e.g. extra/tk sorted first within the extra section), or
2. Exact matches sorted at the global front, (e.g. extra/tk sorted even before core packages)

[SampsonCrowley]

@grandchild I think I'd probably vote 1; though I see merit in either

[Fabian42]

2. There could be a hundred packages in core that don't match at all (like core/linux56 for virtualbox) and only then one in community (like community/virtualbox). So it should even prefer exact matches and partial matches over the repository, only then fuzzy matches in whatever order seems reasonable. Of course there can be options for sorting as well.

[grandchild]

I'm also in favor of option 2.