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POSTINSTALL(8)              System Manager's Manual             POSTINSTALL(8)

NAME
     postinstall - check and fix installation after system upgrades

SYNOPSIS
     postinstall [-a arch] [-d destdir] [-m machine]
                 [-s (srcdir | tgzdir | tgzfile)] [-x xsrcdir] operation ...
     postinstall -?

DESCRIPTION
     The postinstall utility performs post-installation checks and/or fixes on
     a system's configuration files.  It is especially useful after system
     upgrades, e.g. after updating from NetBSD 1.6.2 to NetBSD 2.0.  The items
     to check or fix are divided in two groups: enabled by default and
     disabled by default.  The latter are items that are dangerous for some
     reason, for example because they remove files which may be still in use.
     If no items are provided, the default checks or fixes are applied.  Those
     which are disabled by default must be provided explicitly.

     Supported options:

           -a arch       MACHINE_ARCH.  Defaults to machine of the host
                         operating system.

           -d destdir    Destination directory to check.  Defaults to /.

           -m machine    MACHINE.  Defaults to machine of the host operating
                         system.

           -s (srcdir | tgzdir | tgzfile)
                         The location of the reference files, or the NetBSD
                         source files used to create the reference files.
                         This may be specified in one of three ways:

                         -s srcdir      The top level directory of the NetBSD
                                        source tree.  By default this is
                                        /usr/src.

                         -s tgzdir      A directory in which reference files
                                        have been extracted from a binary
                                        distribution of NetBSD.  The files
                                        that are distributed in the "etc.tgz"
                                        or "etc.tar.xz" set file must be
                                        present.  The files that are
                                        distributed in the "xetc.tgz" or
                                        "xetc.tar.xz" set file are optional.

                         -s tgzfile     The location of a set file (or "tgz
                                        file" or "tar.xz file") such as
                                        "etc.tgz" or "xetc.tgz" from a binary
                                        distribution of NetBSD.  Each set file
                                        is a compressed archive containing
                                        reference files, which will be
                                        extracted to the temproot directory.
                                        Multiple -s options may be used to
                                        specify multiple set files.  The
                                        "etc.tgz" set file must be specified.
                                        The "xetc.tgz" set file is optional.

           -x xsrcdir    Location of the X11 source files.  This must be a
                         directory that contains a NetBSD xsrc tree.

           -?            Display help to stdout, and exit.

     The operation argument may be one of:

           check item ...
                    Perform post-installation checks on items.

           diff [-bcenpuw] item ...
                    Similar to check, but also show the differences between
                    the files.

           fix item ...
                    Apply fixes that check determines need to be applied.  Not
                    all items can be automatically fixed by postinstall, and
                    in some cases an error will be reported, after which
                    manual intervention will be required.

                    Conflicts between existing files in the target file system
                    and new files from the NetBSD distribution are resolved by
                    replacing the existing file with the new file; there is no
                    attempt to merge the files.  See etcupdate(8) for an
                    alternative update method that is able to merge files.

           help     Display help to stdout, and exit.

           list     List available items, showing if they are enabled or
                    disabled by default.

           usage    Display help to stdout, and exit.

EXIT STATUS
     The postinstall utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs or
     a problem was found.

SEE ALSO
     etcupdate(8)

HISTORY
     The postinstall utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.6.

     In NetBSD 4.0, the -s tgzfile option was added.

     In NetBSD 5.0, the ability to specify multiple colon-separated files with
     a single -s option was deprecated.

     In NetBSD 7.0, the ability to specify multiple colon-separated files with
     a single -s option was removed.  Multiple -s options must be used
     instead.

NetBSD 10.99                    January 9, 2022                   NetBSD 10.99