home | help
PKG_CREATE(1)		     General Commands Manual		   PKG_CREATE(1)

NAME
     pkg_create -- a utility for creating software package distributions

SYNOPSIS
     pkg_create [-YNOhjvyz] [-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 [-YNhvy] -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 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  mud-
     dling  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 preceded
	     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      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 a custom hack for  the
	     FreeBSD  Ports  Collection  and is used to do `fake pkg_add' opera-
	     tions when a port 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 pre-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.  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,  dif-
	     ferentiating  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 as-
	     sumed 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 directives
	     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  ori-
	     gin  of  each  dependency from the list and it is recorded into the
	     packing list along with the pkgname using @comment directive.

     -p prefix
	     Set prefix as the initial directory "base" to start from in select-
	     ing 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.	It  will be passed the package's name as the first argu-
	     ment.

	     Note: if the -K option is not given, this script will serve as both
	     the de-install and the post-deinstall script for the package,  dif-
	     ferentiating  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 deter-
	     mine whether or not installation/deinstallation should proceed.  To
	     differentiate between installation and deinstallation, the keywords
	     INSTALL and DEINSTALL are passed respectively, along with the pack-
	     age'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
	     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  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.

     -o 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 recognizable
	     suffix of pkg-filename.  Currently pkg_create recognizes  the  fol-
	     lowing suffixes: .tbz, .tgz and .tar.

     -y      Compatibility synonym for -j.

     -z      Use gzip(1) utility to compress package tarball.

     -b 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.

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  spe-
     cialized  command	sequences in the packing list.	Briefly described, these
     sequences are:
     @cwd directory
	     Set the internal directory pointer to point to directory.	All sub-
	     sequent 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 con-
	     tains 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	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 two currently supported ones
	     being  extract-in-place, which tells the pkg_add command not to ex-
	     tract 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, pre-
	     serving 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
	     Imbed 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.
     @ignore_inst
	     Similar to @ignore, but the ignoring of the next  file  is  delayed
	     one evaluation cycle.  This makes it possible to use this directive
	     in  the packinglist file, so you can pack a specialized datafile in
	     with a distribution for your install script (or something) 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 de-
	     fault, 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 directives are used,
	     the directories are removed in the order specified.  The  name  di-
	     rectory 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 packages
	     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 ALSO
     pkg_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 direc-
     tives 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.

FreeBSD 5.3			  June 29, 2004 		   PKG_CREATE(1)

home | help