PKG_CREATE(1) BSD General Commands Manual PKG_CREATE(1)NAMEpkg_create — a utility for creating software package distributions
SYNOPSISpkg_create [-YNOhjnvyz] [-C conflicts] [-P pkgs] [-p prefix] [-i iscript]
[-I piscript] [-k dscript] [-K pdscript] [-r rscript]
[-s srcdir] [-S basedir] [-t template] [-X excludefile]
[-D displayfile] [-m mtreefile] [-o originpath] -c comment -d
description -f packlist pkg-filename
pkg_create [-EGYNRhnvxy] -b pkg-name [pkg-filename]
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 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:
-f packinglist
Fetch “packing list” for package from the file packinglist or
stdin if packinglist is a - (dash).
-c [-]desc
Fetch package “one line description” from file desc or, if pre‐
ceded by -, the argument itself. This string should also give
some idea of which version of the product (if any) the package
represents.
-d [-]desc
Fetch long description for package from file desc or, if preceded
by -, the argument itself.
-Y, --yes
Assume a default answer of `Yes' for any questions asked.
-N, --no
Assume a default answer of `No' for any questions asked.
-O, --plist-only
Go into a `packing list Only' mode. This is a custom hack for
the FreeBSD Ports Collection and is used to do `fake pkg_add'
operations when a port is installed. In such cases, it is neces‐
sary to know what the final, adjusted packing list will look
like.
-v, --verbose
Turn on verbose output.
-h Force tar to follow symbolic links, so that the files they point
to are dumped, rather than the links themselves.
-i iscript
Set iscript to be the pre-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. It
will be passed the package's name as the first argument.
Note: if the -I option is not given, this script will serve as
both the pre-install and the post-install script for the package,
differentiating between the functionality by passing the keywords
PRE-INSTALL and POST-INSTALL respectively, after the package's
name.
-I piscript
Set piscript to be the post-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. It
will be passed the package's name as the first argument.
-C conflicts
Set the initial package conflict list to conflicts. This is
assumed to be a whitespace separated list of package names and is
meant as a convenient shorthand for specifying multiple
@conflicts directives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST
DETAILS section below).
-P pkgs
Set the initial package dependency list to pkgs. This is assumed
to be a whitespace separated list of package names and is meant
as a convenient shorthand for specifying multiple @pkgdep direc‐
tives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST DETAILS section
below). Each argument from the pkgs list could be in the form
pkgname[:pkgorigin], where optional pkgorigin element denotes
origin of each dependency from the list and it is recorded into
the packing list along with the pkgname using @comment directive.
-p, --prefix prefix
Set prefix as the initial directory “base” to start from in
selecting files for the package.
-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. It will be passed the package's name as the first
argument.
Note: if the -K option is not given, this script will serve as
both the de-install and the post-deinstall script for the pack‐
age, differentiating between the functionality by passing the
keywords DEINSTALL and POST-DEINSTALL respectively, along with
the package's name.
-K pdscript
Set pdscript to be the post-deinstall procedure for the package.
This can be any executable program (or shell script). It will be
invoked automatically when the package is later de-installed. It
will be passed the package's name as the first argument.
-r rscript
Set rscript to be the “requirements” procedure for the package.
This can be any executable program (or shell script). It will be
invoked automatically at installation/deinstallation time to
determine whether or not installation/deinstallation should pro‐
ceed. To differentiate between installation and deinstallation,
the keywords INSTALL and DEINSTALL are passed respectively, along
with the package's name.
-s srcdir
srcdir will override the value of @cwd during package creation.
-S basedir
basedir will be prefixed to all @cwd during package creation.
-t, --template 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.
-X excludefile
Pass excludefile as a -exclude-from argument to tar when creating
final package. See tar man page (or run tar with --help flag)
for further information on using this flag.
-D displayfile
Display the file (by concatenating it to stdout) after installing
the package. Useful for things like legal notices on almost-free
software, etc.
-m mtreefile
Run mtree(8) with input from mtreefile before the package is
installed. Mtree is invoked as mtree -u -f mtreefile -d -e -p
prefix, where prefix is the name of the first directory named by
a @cwd directive.
-o, --origin originpath
Record an originpath, as location of the port from which package
has been created in the FreeBSD Ports Collection. It should be
in the form MASTERCATEGORY/PORTDIR.
-j Use bzip2(1) utility to compress package tarball instead of
gzip(1). Please note that this option is a NO-OP if the format
of the resulting archive is explicitly specified by the recogniz‐
able suffix of pkg-filename. Currently pkg_create recognizes the
following suffixes: .tbz, .tgz, .txz and .tar.
-y Compatibility synonym for -j.
-z Use gzip(1) utility to compress package tarball.
-J Use xz(1) utility to compress package tarball instead of gzip(1).
Please note that this option is a NO-OP if the format of the
resulting archive is explicitly specified by the recognizable
suffix of pkg-filename. Currently pkg_create recognizes the fol‐
lowing suffixes: .tbz, .tgz, .txz and .tar.
-b, --backup pkg-name
Create package file from a locally installed package named
pkg-name. If the pkg-filename is not specified, then resulting
archive will be created in the current directory and named
pkg-name with an appropriate extraction suffix applied.
-R, --recursive
When creating package file from a locally installed package also
create package files for all packages required by pkg-name.
Resulting archive(s) will be created in the current directory and
named using name of the respective package with appropriate
extraction suffix applied.
-x, --regex
Use basic regular expressions for pkg-name.
-E, --extended
Use extended (modern) regular expressions for pkg-name.
-G, --no-glob
Use exact matching for pkg-name.
-n Run in “no clobber” mode. If a package tarball exists, the
pkg_create utility will not overwrite it. This is useful, for
example, when multiple packages are saved with several consecu‐
tive runs of pkg_create with the -Rb options. Saving common
dependencies multiple times would do a lot of duplicate work in
this case. The -n option avoids repackaging common dependencies
multiple times.
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 spec‐
ifying 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.
If no directory argument is given, it will set the internal
directory pointer to the first prefix value. Note: @cd is also
an alias for this command.
@srcdir directory
Set the internal directory pointer for _creation only_ to
directory. That is to say that it overrides @cwd for package
creation but not extraction.
@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 file‐
spec, 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 con‐
tents (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 have 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 is later handed off to it, that is no
surprise). Use without an arg to set back to default (extrac‐
tion) permissions.
@option option
Set internal package options, the only two currently supported
ones being extract-in-place, which tells the pkg_add command not
to extract the package's tarball into a staging area but rather
directly into the target hierarchy (this is typically meant to be
used only by distributions or other special package types), and
preserve, which tells pkg_add to move any existing files out of
the way, preserving the previous contents (which are also resur‐
rected 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
Imbed a comment in the packing list. Useful in trying to docu‐
ment some particularly hairy sequence that may trip someone up
later.
@noinst option file
Specify that the package would have installed file if option had
been specified at build time. The action of @noinst is the same
that @comment (which is doing nothing, it is just additional
information).
@ignore
Used internally to tell extraction to ignore the next file (do
not copy it anywhere), as it is used for some special purpose.
@ignore_inst
Similar to @ignore, but the ignoring of the next file is delayed
one evaluation cycle. This makes it possible to use this direc‐
tive in the packinglist file, so you can pack a specialized
datafile in with a distribution for your install script (or some‐
thing) yet have the installer ignore it.
@name name
Set the name of the package. This is mandatory and is usually
put at the top. This name is potentially different from 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 package name and add it automatically
if none is given.
@dirrm name
Declare directory name to be deleted at deinstall time. By
default, directories created by a package installation are not
deleted when the package is deinstalled; this provides an
explicit directory cleanup method. This directive should appear
at the end of the package list. If more than one @dirrm direc‐
tives are used, the directories are removed in the order speci‐
fied. The name directory will not be removed unless it is empty.
@mtree name
Declare name as an mtree(8) input file to be used at install time
(see -m above). Only the first @mtree directive is honored.
@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 dein‐
stalled. Multiple @pkgdep directives may be used if the package
depends on multiple other packages.
@conflicts pkgcflname
Declare a conflict with the pkgcflname package, as the two pack‐
ages contain references to the same files, and so cannot co-exist
on the same system.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable PKG_TMPDIR names the directory where pkg_create
will attempt to create its temporary files. If PKG_TMPDIR is not set,
the directory named by the contents of TMPDIR will be used. If neither
of PKG_TMPDIR and TMPDIR are set, the builtin defaults are used.
FILES
/var/tmp Temporary directory if environmental variables PKG_TMPDIR and
TMPDIR are not set.
/tmp The next choice if /var/tmp does not exist.
/usr/tmp The last choice if /tmp is unsuitable.
SEE ALSOpkg_add(1), pkg_delete(1), pkg_info(1), pkg_version(1), sysconf(3)HISTORY
The pkg_create command first appeared in FreeBSD.
AUTHORS
Jordan Hubbard
CONTRIBUTORS
John Kohl ⟨jtk@rational.com⟩, Oliver Eikemeier ⟨eik@FreeBSD.org⟩
BUGS
Hard links between files in a distribution must be bracketed by @cwd
directives in order to be preserved as hard links when the package is
extracted. They additionally must not end up being split between tar
invocations due to exec argument-space limitations (this depends on the
value returned by sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX)).
Sure to be others.
BSD Oct 12, 2010 BSD
