PKG_CREATE(1)              OpenBSD Reference Manual              PKG_CREATE(1)

NAME
     pkg_create - a utility for creating software package distributions



SYNOPSIS
     pkg_create [-Ohv] [-P dpkgs] [-C cpkgs] [-p prefix] [-f contents] [-i
                iscript] [-k dscript] [-r rscript] [-t template] [-X
                excludefile] [-D displayfile] [-m mtreefile] -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 de-
     scription 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 descrip-
     tion 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 pack-
             age represents.

     -d [-]desc
             Fetch long description for package from file desc or, if preceded
             by ``-'', the argument itself.

     -Y      Assume a default answer of ``Yes'' for any questions asked.

     -N      Assume a default answer of ``No'' for any questions asked.

     -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.

     -v      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 install procedure for the package.  This
             can be any executable program (or shell script).  It will be in-
             voked automatically when the package is later installed.

     -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 direc-
             tives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST DETAILS section be-
             low).

     -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 direc-
             tives in the packing list (see PACKING LIST DETAILS section be-
             low).

     -p prefix
             Set prefix as the initial directory ``base'' to start from in se-
             lecting 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 in-
             voked automatically when the package is later (if ever) de-in-
             stalled.

     -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 de-
             termine whether or not installation/deinstallation should pro-
             ceed.

     -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.

     -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 (using more(1))  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 in-
             stalled.  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.

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
     imbedding specialized command sequences in the packing list. Briefly de-
     scribed, 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.

     @srcdir directory
             Set the internal directory pointer for creation only to
             directory. That is to say that it overrides @cwd for package cre-
             ation 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      Expands to the current directory prefix, as set with
                     @cwd; in the example case /usr/local.

             %B      Expands to the ``basename'' of the fully qualified file-
                     name, 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      Expands to the ``filename'' part of the fully qualified
                     name, or the converse of %B; 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'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 sur-
             prise).  Use without an arg to set back to default (extraction)
             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) own-
             ership.

     @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.

     @ignore
             Used internally to tell extraction to ignore the next file (don't

             copy it anywhere), as it's 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 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 de-
             rive 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 de-
             fault, directories created by a package installation are not
             deleted when the package is deinstalled; this provides an explic-
             it directory cleanup method.  This directive should appear at the
             end of the package list.  If more than one @dirrm directive is
             used, the directories are removed in the order specified.  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.

     @pkgcfl pkgcflname
             Declare a conflict to the pkgcflname package.  The pkgcflname
             package must not be installed if pkgname package gets installed
             cause they install the same files and thus conflict.

SEE ALSO
     pkg_add(1),  pkg_delete(1),  pkg_info(1),  sysconf(3).

HISTORY
     The pkg_create command first appeared in FreeBSD.

AUTHORS
     Jordan Hubbard
             most of the work
     John Kohl
             refined it for NetBSD

BUGS
     Hard links between files in a distribution must be bracketed by @cwd di-
     rectives in order to be preserved as hard links when the package is ex-
     tracted.  They additionally must not end up being split between tar invo-
     cations due to exec argument-space limitations (this depends on the value
     returned by sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX)).

     Sure to be others.

OpenBSD 2.6                     April 21, 1995                               4