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Jordan K. Hubbard


@(#)pkg_create.1

pkg_create - a utility for creating software package distributions. pkg_create [options] pkg-name 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 muddling through it yourself. Nonetheless, a short description of the input syntax is included in this document.

The following command line options are supported.

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

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

-v Turns on verbose output. "Optional."

"-c " [-]desc Fetch package "one line description" from file desc or, if preceeded by - , the argument itself. This string should also give some idea of which version of the product (if any) the package represents. "Mandatory."

"-d " [-]desc Fetch long description for package from file desc or, if preceeded by - , the argument itself. "Mandatory."

"-f " file Fetch "packing list" for package from file or stdin if file is a - (dash). "Mandatory."

-h Forces tar to follow symbolic links, so that the files they point to are dumped, rather than the links themselves.

"-i " script Sets script to be the 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. "Optional."

"-p " prefix Sets prefix As the initial directory "base" to start from in selecting files for the package. "Optional."

"-k " script Sets script 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. "Optional."

"-r " script Sets script 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 proceed. "Optional."

"-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. "Optional."

"-X " file Pass file 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.

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 imbeding specialized command sequences in the packing list. Briefly described, these sequences are:

"@cwd " directory Sets 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 Sets 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 a 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 filename, 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 , 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 creating 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 Sets 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.

"@owner " user Sets default ownership for all subsequently extracted files to user. Use without an arg to set back to default (extraction) ownership.

"@group " group Sets 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 " file Used internally to tell extraction to ignore the next file (don't copy it anywhere), as it's used for some special purpose. Also useful if you want to pack some specialized datafiles in with a distribution for your install script (or something) and want to have the installer ignore it.

"@name " name Sets 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 derive this field from the package name and add it automatically if none is given.

Sure to be some. pkg_add "(" 1 ")," pkg_info "(" 1 ")," pkg_delete "(" 1 ")," Jordan Hubbard