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PKG_CREATE(1) General Commands Manual PKG_CREATE(1)
NAME
pkg_create - a utility for creating software package distributions
SYNOPSIS
pkg_create [-lOVv] [-B build-info-file] [-b build-version-file]
[-C cpkgs] [-D displayfile] [-F compression] [-g group]
[-I realprefix] [-i iscript] [-K pkg_dbdir] [-k dscript]
[-n preserve-file] [-P dpkgs] [-p prefix] [-S size-all-file]
[-s size-pkg-file] [-T buildpkgs] [-t template] [-u owner]
-c comment -d description -f packlist pkg-name
DESCRIPTION
The pkg_create command is used to create packages that will subsequently
be fed to one of the package extraction/info utilities. The input
description and command line arguments for the creation of a package are
not really meant to be human-generated, though it is easy enough to do
so. It is more expected that you will use a front-end tool for the job
rather than muddling through it yourself. Nonetheless, a short
description of the input syntax is included in this document.
OPTIONS
The following command line options are supported:
-B build-info-file
Install the file build-info-file so that users of binary packages
can see what make(1) definitions were used to control the build
when creating the binary package. This allows various build
definitions to be retained in a binary package and viewed
wherever it is installed, using pkg_info(1).
-b build-version-file
Install the file build-version-file so that users of binary
packages can see what versions of the files used to control the
build were used when creating the binary package. This allows
some fine-grained version control information to be retained in a
binary package and viewed wherever it is installed, using
pkg_info(1).
-C cpkgs
Set the initial package conflict list to cpkgs. This is assumed
to be a whitespace separated list of package names and is meant
as a convenient shorthand for specifying multiple @pkgcfl
directives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST DETAILS section
below).
-c [-]desc
Fetch package (one line description) from file desc or, if
preceded by -, the argument itself. This string should also give
some idea of which version of the product (if any) the package
represents.
-D displayfile
Display the file after installing the package. Useful for things
like legal notices on almost-free software, etc.
-d [-]desc
Fetch long description for package from file desc or, if preceded
by -, the argument itself.
-F compression
Use compression as compression algorithm. This overrides the
heuristic to guess the compression type from the output name.
Currently supported values are bzip2, gzip, none and xz.
-f packlist
Fetch (packing list) for package from the file packlist or stdin
if packlist is a - (dash).
-g group
Make group the default group ownership instead of extracting it
from the file system.
-I realprefix
Provide the real prefix, as opposed to the staging prefix, for
use in staged installations of packages.
-i iscript
Set iscript to be the install procedure for the package. This
can be any executable program (or shell script). It will be
invoked automatically when the package is later installed.
-K pkg_dbdir
Override the value of the PKG_DBDIR configuration option with the
value pkg_dbdir.
-k dscript
Set dscript to be the de-install procedure for the package. This
can be any executable program (or shell script). It will be
invoked automatically when the package is later (if ever) de-
installed.
-l Check that any symbolic links which are to be placed in the
package are relative to the current prefix. This means using
unlink(2) and symlink(2) to remove and re-link any symbolic links
which are targeted at full path names.
-n preserve-file
The file is used to denote that the package should not be
deleted. This is intended for use where the deletion of packages
may present a bootstrap problem.
-O Go into a (packing list only) mode. This is used to do (fake
pkg_add) operations when a package is installed. In such cases,
it is necessary to know what the final, adjusted packing list
will look like.
-P dpkgs
Set the initial package dependency list to dpkgs. This is
assumed to be a whitespace separated list of package names and is
meant as a convenient shorthand for specifying multiple @pkgdep
directives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST DETAILS section
below). In addition, the exact versions of the packages referred
to in the dpkgs list will be added to the packing list in the
form of @blddep directives.
-T buildpkgs
The exact versions of the packages referred to in the buildpkgs
list will be added to the packing list in the form of @blddep
directives. This directives are stored after those created by
the -P option. buildpkgs is assumed to be a whitespace separated
list of package names.
-p prefix
Set prefix as the initial directory (base) to start from in
selecting files for the package.
-S size-all-file
Store the given file for later querying with the pkg_info(1) -S
flag. The file is expected to contain the size (in bytes) of all
files of this package plus any required packages added up and
stored as a ASCII string, terminated by a newline.
-s size-pkg-file
Store the given file for later querying with the pkg_info(1) -s
flag. The file is expected to contain the size (in bytes) of all
files of this package added up and stored as a ASCII string,
terminated by a newline.
-t template
Use template as the input to mktemp(3). By default, this is the
string /tmp/instmp.XXXXXX, but it may be necessary to override it
in the situation where space in your /tmp directory is limited.
Be sure to leave some number of `X' characters for mktemp(3) to
fill in with a unique ID.
-u owner
Make owner the default owner instead of extracting it from the
file system.
-V Print version number and exit.
-v Turn on verbose output.
PACKING LIST DETAILS
The (packing list) format (see -f) is fairly simple, being nothing more
than a single column of filenames to include in the package. However,
since absolute pathnames are generally a bad idea for a package that
could be installed potentially anywhere, there is another method of
specifying where things are supposed to go and, optionally, what
ownership and mode information they should be installed with. This is
done by embedding specialized command sequences in the packing list.
Briefly described, these sequences are:
@cwd directory
Set the internal directory pointer to point to directory. All
subsequent filenames will be assumed relative to this directory.
Note: @cd is also an alias for this command.
@src directory
This command is supported for compatibility only. It was
formerly used to override @cwd during package creation.
@exec command
Execute command as part of the unpacking process. If command
contains any of the following sequences somewhere in it, they
will be expanded inline. For the following examples, assume that
@cwd is set to /usr/local and the last extracted file was
bin/emacs.
%F Expands to the last filename extracted (as specified), in
the example case bin/emacs
%D Expand to the current directory prefix, as set with @cwd,
in the example case /usr/local.
%B Expand to the (basename) of the fully qualified filename,
that is the current directory prefix, plus the last
filespec, minus the trailing filename. In the example
case, that would be /usr/local/bin.
%f Expand to the (filename) part of the fully qualified
name, or the converse of %B, being in the example case,
emacs.
@unexec command
Execute command as part of the deinstallation process. Expansion
of special % sequences is the same as for @exec. This command is
not executed during the package add, as @exec is, but rather when
the package is deleted. This is useful for deleting links and
other ancillary files that were created as a result of adding the
package, but not directly known to the package's table of
contents (and hence not automatically removable). The advantage
of using @unexec over a deinstallation script is that you can use
the (special sequence expansion) to get at files regardless of
where they've been potentially redirected (see -p).
@mode mode
Set default permission for all subsequently extracted files to
mode. Format is the same as that used by the chmod command
(well, considering that it's later handed off to it, that's no
surprise). Use without an arg to set back to default
(extraction) permissions.
@option option
Set internal package options, the only currently supported one
being preserve, which tells pkg_add to move any existing files
out of the way, preserving the previous contents (which are also
resurrected on pkg_delete, so caveat emptor).
@owner user
Set default ownership for all subsequently extracted files to
user. Use without an arg to set back to default (extraction)
ownership.
@group group
Set default group ownership for all subsequently extracted files
to group. Use without an arg to set back to default (extraction)
group ownership.
@comment string
Embed a comment in the packing list. Useful in trying to
document some particularly hairy sequence that may trip someone
up later.
@ignore
Used internally to tell extraction to ignore the next file (don't
copy it anywhere), as it's used for some special purpose.
@name name
Set the name of the package. This is mandatory and is usually
put at the top. This name is potentially different than the name
of the file it came in, and is used when keeping track of the
package for later deinstallation. Note that pkg_create will
derive this field from the pkg-name and add it automatically if
none is given.
@pkgdir name
Declare directory name as managed. If it does not exist at
installation time, it is created. If this directory is no longer
referenced by packages and the last file or directory in it is
deleted, the directory is removed as well.
@dirrm name
This command is supported for compatibility only. If directory
name exists, it will be deleted at deinstall time.
@display name
Declare name as the file to be displayed at install time (see -D
above).
@pkgdep pkgname
Declare a dependency on the pkgname package. The pkgname package
must be installed before this package may be installed, and this
package must be deinstalled before the pkgname package is
deinstalled. Multiple @pkgdep directives may be used if the
package depends on multiple other packages.
@blddep pkgname
Declare that this package was built with the exact version of
pkgname (since the @pkgdep directive may contain wildcards or
relational package version information).
@pkgcfl pkgcflname
Declare a conflict with the pkgcflname package, as the two
packages contain references to the same files, and so cannot co-
exist on the same system.
ENVIRONMENT
See pkg_install.conf(5) for options, that can also be specified using the
environment.
SEE ALSO
pkg_add(1), pkg_admin(1), pkg_delete(1), pkg_info(1), pkg_install.conf(5)
pkgsrc(7)
HISTORY
The pkg_create command first appeared in FreeBSD.
AUTHORS
Jordan Hubbard
most of the work
John Kohl
refined it for NetBSD
Hubert Feyrer
NetBSD wildcard dependency processing, pkgdb, pkg size recording
etc.
NetBSD 10.99 December 27, 2014 NetBSD 10.99