Updated: 2022/Sep/29

Please read Privacy Policy. It's for your privacy.


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