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PKG(8) System Manager's Manual PKG(8) NAME pkg, pkg-static -- manipulate packages SYNOPSIS pkg [-v] [-d] [-l] [-N] [-o <option=value>] [-j <jail name or id> | -c <chroot path> | -r <root directory>] [-C <configuration file>] [-R <repository configuration directory>] [-4 | -6] <command> <flags> pkg [--version] [--debug] [--list] [-N] [--option <option=value>] [--jail <jail name or id> | --chroot <chroot path> | --rootdir <root directory>] [--config <configuration file>] [--repo-conf-dir <repository configuration directory>] [-4 | -6] <command> <flags> DESCRIPTION pkg provides an interface for manipulating packages: registering, adding, removing and upgrading packages. pkg-static is a statically linked variant of pkg typically only used for the initial installation of pkg. There are some differences in functionality. See pkg.conf(5) for details. OPTIONS The following options are supported by pkg: -v, --version Display the current version of pkg. Specify twice (-vv) to also show pkg.conf(5) configuration. -d, --debug Show debug information. -l, --list List all the available command names, and exit without performing any other action. The -v option takes precedence over -l but -l will override any other command line arguments. -o <option=value>, --option <option=value> Set configuration option for pkg from the command line. Options that are set from the environment are redefined. It is permitted to specify this option multiple times. -N Activation status check mode. Prevent pkg from automatically cre- ating or initializing the SQLite database in /var/db/pkg/local.sqlite if it does not already exist. Prevent pkg from performing any actions if no packages are cur- rently installed, on the basis that a correctly initialised system using pkg will always have at least the pkg package itself regis- tered. If used without any other arguments, pkg -N will run the sanity tests and if successful print out a short message showing how many packages are currently installed. The exit status should be a re- liable indication of whether a system is configured to use pkg as its package management system or not. Example usage: if pkg -N >/dev/null 2>&1; then # pkg(8) specific commands else # other package management system commands fi The -N flag was first released in the /usr/sbin/pkg bootstrapper in FreeBSD 8.4, but was missing from FreeBSD 9.1. It may not be enough to just call pkg -N, as the bootstrapper may be invoked, or an error returned from pkg. The following script is the safest way to detect if pkg is installed and activated: if TMPDIR=/dev/null ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=yes \ PACKAGESITE=file:///nonexistent \ pkg info -x 'pkg(-devel)?$' >/dev/null 2>&1; then # pkg(8) specific commands else # other package management system commands fi -j <jail name or id>, --jail <jail name or id> pkg will execute in the given <jail name or id>, where name matches "jls name" and id matches "jls jid". See jail(8) and jls(8). -c <chroot path>, --chroot <chroot path> pkg will chroot in the <chroot path> environment. -r <root directory>, --rootdir <root directory> pkg will install all packages within the specified <root directory>. -C <configuration file>, --config <configuration file> pkg will use the specified file as a configuration file. -R <repo conf dir>, --repo-conf-dir <repo conf dir> pkg will search the directory for per-repository configuration files. This overrides any value of REPOS_DIR specified in the main configuration file. -4 pkg will use IPv4 for fetching repository and packages. -6 pkg will use IPv6 for fetching repository and packages. COMMANDS The following commands (or their unambiguous abbreviations) are supported by pkg: help command Display usage information of the specified command. add Install a package from either a local source or a remote one. When installing from remote source you need to specify the protocol to use when fetching the package. Currently supported protocols are FTP, HTTP and HTTPS. annotate Add, modify or delete tag-value style annotations on packages. alias List the command line aliases. audit Audit installed packages against known vulnerabilities. autoremove Delete packages which were automatically installed as dependencies and are not required any more. bootstrap This is for compatibility with the pkg(7) bootstrapper. If pkg is already installed, nothing is done. If invoked with the -f flag an attempt will be made to reinstall pkg from remote repository. check Sanity checks installed packages. clean Clean the local cache of fetched remote packages. create Create a package. delete Delete a package from the database and the system. fetch Fetch packages from a remote repository. info Display information about installed packages and package files. install Install a package from a package repository or a local archive. If a package is found in more than one repository, then the first one is used. If not local, then download is attempted from each repos- itory, until the package is successfully fetched. lock Prevent modification or deletion of a package. plugins List the available plugins. query Query information about installed packages and package files. register Register a package in the database. repo Create a local package repository for remote usage. rquery Query information for remote repositories. search Search for the given pattern in the remote package repositories. set Modify information in the installed database. shell Open a SQLite shell to the local or remote database. Extreme care should be taken when using this command. shlib Displays which packages link to a specific shared library. stats Display package database statistics. unlock Unlocks packages, allowing them to be modified or deleted. update Update the available remote repositories as listed in pkg.conf(5). updating Display UPDATING entries of installed packages. upgrade Upgrade a package to a newer version. version Summarize installed versions of packages. which Query the database for package(s) that installed a specific file. ENVIRONMENT All configuration options from pkg.conf(5) can be passed as environment variables. Extra environment variables are: INSTALL_AS_USER Allow all manipulation to be done as a regular user in- stead of checking for root credentials when appropriate. It is expected that the user will ensure that every file and directory manipulated by pkg are readable (or writable where appropriate) by the user. FILES See pkg.conf(5). EXAMPLES Search for a package: $ pkg search perl Install a package: Installing must specify a unique origin or version otherwise it will try installing all matches. % pkg install perl-5.14 List installed packages: $ pkg info Upgrade from remote repository: % pkg upgrade Change the origin for an installed package: % pkg set -o lang/perl5.12:lang/perl5.14 % pkg install -Rf lang/perl5.14 List non-automatic packages: $ pkg query -e '%a = 0' %o List automatic packages: $ pkg query -e '%a = 1' %o Delete an installed package: % pkg delete perl-5.14 Remove unneeded dependencies: % pkg autoremove Change a package from automatic to non-automatic, which will prevent autoremove from removing it: % pkg set -A 0 perl-5.14 Change a package from non-automatic to automatic, which will make autoremove allow it be removed once nothing depends on it: % pkg set -A 1 perl-5.14 Create package file from an installed package: % pkg create -o /usr/ports/packages/All perl-5.14 Determine which package installed a file: $ pkg which /usr/local/bin/perl Audit installed packages for security advisories: $ pkg audit Check installed packages for checksum mismatches: # pkg check -s -a Check for missing dependencies: # pkg check -d -a Show the pkg-message of a package: # pkg info -D perl-5.14 Restore a backup database: % rm /var/db/pkg/local.sqlite % xzcat /var/backups/pkg.sql.xz | pkg shell SEE ALSO pkg_create(3), pkg_printf(3), pkg_repo_create(3), pkg_repos(3), pkg-key- words(5), pkg-lua-script(5), pkg-repository(5), pkg-script(5), pkg-trig- gers(5), pkg.conf(5), pkg-add(8), pkg-alias(8), pkg-annotate(8), pkg-au- dit(8), pkg-autoremove(8), pkg-check(8), pkg-clean(8), pkg-config(8), pkg- create(8), pkg-delete(8), pkg-fetch(8), pkg-help(8), pkg-info(8), pkg-in- stall(8), pkg-key(8), pkg-lock(8), pkg-plugins(8), pkg-query(8), pkg-regis- ter(8), pkg-repo(8), pkg-repositories(8), pkg-rquery(8), pkg-search(8), pkg-set(8), pkg-shell(8), pkg-shlib(8), pkg-ssh(8), pkg-stats(8), pkg-trig- gers(8), pkg-unregister(8), pkg-update(8), pkg-updating(8), pkg-upgrade(8), pkg-version(8), pkg-which(8) To build your own package set for one or multiple servers see FreeBSD pkg mirror Your closest pkg mirror based on MaxMind GeoLite geo-DNS. HISTORY The pkg command first appeared in FreeBSD 9.1. AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS Baptiste Daroussin <bapt@FreeBSD.org>, Julien Laffaye <jlaffaye@FreeBSD.org>, Philippe Pepiot <phil@philpep.org>, Will Andrews <will@FreeBSD.org>, Marin Atanasov Nikolov <dnaeon@gmail.com>, Yuri Pankov <yuri.pankov@gmail.com>, Alberto Villa <avilla@FreeBSD.org>, Brad Davis <brd@FreeBSD.org>, Matthew Seaman <matthew@FreeBSD.org>, Bryan Drewery <bryan@shatow.net>, Eitan Adler <eadler@FreeBSD.org>, Romain Tartiere <romain@FreeBSD.org>, Vsevolod Stakhov <vsevolod@FreeBSD.org>, Alexandre Perrin <alex@kaworu.ch> BUGS See the issue tracker at https://github.com/freebsd/pkg/issues. Please direct questions and issues to the pkg@FreeBSD.org mailing list. FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly December 13, 2025 PKG(8)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | COMMANDS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS | BUGS
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