pkg_add -- a utility for installing software package distributions
pkg_add [-vInfrRMS] [-t template] [-p prefix] pkg-name [pkg-name ...]
The pkg_add command is used to extract packages that have been previously
created with the pkg_create(1) command.
Since the pkg_add command may execute scripts or programs contained
within a package file, your system may be susceptible to ``trojan
horses'' or other subtle attacks from miscreants who create dangerous
package files.
You are advised to verify the competence and identity of those who pro-
vide installable package files. For extra protection, use the -M flag to
extract the package file, and inspect its contents and scripts to ensure
it poses no danger to your system's integrity. Pay particular attention
to any +INSTALL, +POST-INSTALL, +DEINSTALL, +POST-DEINSTALL, +REQUIRE or
+MTREE_DIRS files, and inspect the +CONTENTS file for @cwd, @mode (check
for setuid), @dirrm, @exec, and @unexec directives, and/or use the
pkg_info(1) command to examine the package file.
The following command line arguments are supported:
pkg-name [pkg-name ...]
The named packages are installed. A package name of - will cause
pkg_add to read from stdin. If the packages are not found in the
current working directory, pkg_add will search them in each
directory named by PKG_PATH.
-v Turn on verbose output.
-I If an installation scripts (pre-install or post-install) exist
for a given package, do not execute them.
-n Don't actually install a package, just report the steps that
would be taken if it was.
-R Do not record the installation of a package. This means that you
cannot deinstall it later, so only use this option if you know
what you are doing!
-r Use the remote fetching feature. This will determine the appropriate
objformat and release and then fetch and install the package.
-f Force installation to proceed even if prerequisite packages are
not installed or the requirements script fails. Although pkg_add
will still try to find and auto-install missing prerequisite
packages, a failure to find one will not be fatal.
-p prefix
Set prefix as the directory in which to extract files from a
package. If a package has set its default directory, it will be
overridden by this flag. Note that only the first @cwd directive
will be replaced, since pkg_add has no way of knowing which
directory settings are relative and which are absolute. It is
rare in any case to see more than one directory transition made,
but when such does happen and you wish to have control over *all*
directory transitions, then you may then wish to look into the
use of MASTER and SLAVE modes (see the -M and -S options).
-t template
Use template as the input to mktemp(3) when creating a ``staging
area''. By default, this is the string /var/tmp/instmp.XXXXXX,
but it may be necessary to override it in the situation where
space in your /var/tmp directory is limited. Be sure to leave
some number of `X' characters for mktemp(3) to fill in with a
unique ID.
You can get a performance boost by setting the staging area
template to reside on the same disk partition as target directories
for package file installation; often this is /usr.
-M Run in MASTER mode. This is a very specialized mode for running
pkg_add and is meant to be run in conjunction with SLAVE mode.
When run in this mode, pkg_add does no work beyond extracting the
package into a temporary staging area (see the -t option), reading
in the packing list, and then dumping it (prefaced by the
current staging area) to stdout where it may be filtered by a
program such as sed(1). When used in conjunction with SLAVE
mode, it allows you to make radical changes to the package structure
before acting on its contents.
-S Run in SLAVE mode. This is a very specialized mode for running
pkg_add and is meant to be run in conjunction with MASTER mode.
When run in this mode, pkg_add expects the release contents to be
already extracted and waiting in the staging area, the location
of which is read as a string from stdin. The complete packing
list is also read from stdin, and the contents then acted on as
normal.
One or more pkg-name arguments may be specified, each being either a file
containing the package (these usually end with a ``.tbz'' suffix) or a
URL pointing at a file available on an ftp site. Thus you may extract
files directly from their anonymous ftp locations (e.g. pkg_add
ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/packages/shells/bash-1.14.7.tbz).
Note: If you wish to use passive mode ftp in such transfers, set the
variable FTP_PASSIVE_MODE to some value in your environment. Otherwise,
the more standard ACTIVE mode may be used. If pkg_add consistently fails
to fetch a package from a site known to work, it may be because you have
a firewall that demands the usage of passive mode ftp.
The pkg_add utility extracts each package's "packing list" into a special
staging directory in /tmp (or $PKG_TMPDIR if set), parses it, and then
runs through the following sequence to fully extract the contents of the
package:
1. A check is made to determine if the package is already recorded as
installed. If it is, installation is terminated.
2. A check is made to determine if the package conflicts (from
@conflicts directives, see pkg_create(1)) with an already-installed
package. If it is, installation is terminated.
3. Scan all the package dependencies (from @pkgdep directives, see
pkg_create(1)) are read from the packing list. If any of these
required packages is not currently installed, an attempt is made to
find and install it; if the missing package cannot be found or
installed, the installation is terminated.
4. Search for any @option directives which control how the package is
added to the system. At the time of this writing, the only currently
implemented option is @option extract-in-place which will
cause the package to be extracted directly into its prefix directory
without moving through a staging area in /tmp.
5. If @option extract-in-place is enabled, the package is now extracted
directly into its final location, otherwise it is extracted into the
staging area.
6. If the package contains a require file (see pkg_create(1)), then
execute it with the following arguments:
pkg-name INSTALL
where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and the
INSTALL keyword denotes this as an installation requirements check
(useful if you want to have one script serving multiple functions).
7. If a pre-install script exists for the package, it is then executed
with the following arguments:
script pkg-name PRE-INSTALL
where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and
PRE-INSTALL is a keyword denoting this as the preinstallation phase.
Note: The PRE-INSTALL keyword will not appear if separate scripts
for pre-install and post-install are given during package creation
time (using the -i and -I flags to pkg_create(1)).
8. If @option extract-in-place is not used, then the packing list (this
is the +CONTENTS file) is now used as a guide for moving (or copying,
as necessary) files from the staging area into their final
locations.
9. If the package contains an mtreefile file (see pkg_create(1)), then
mtree is invoked as:
mtree -u -f mtreefile -d -e -p prefix
where prefix is either the prefix specified with the -p flag or, if
no -p flag was specified, the name of the first directory named by a
@cwd directive within this package.
10. If a post-install script exists for the package, it is then executed
as
script pkg-name POST-INSTALL
where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and
POST-INSTALL is a keyword denoting this as the post-installation
phase.
Note: The POST-INSTALL keyword will not appear if separate scripts
for pre-install and post-install are given during package creation
time (using the -i and -I flags to pkg_create(1)).
Reasoning behind passing keywords such as POST-INSTALL and
PRE-INSTALL is that this allows you to write a single install script
that does both ``before and after'' actions. But, separating the
functionality is more advantageous and easier from a maintenance
viewpoint.
11. After installation is complete, a copy of the packing list,
deinstall script, description, and display files are copied into
/var/db/pkg/<pkg-name> for subsequent possible use by pkg_delete(1).
Any package dependencies are recorded in the other packages'
/var/db/pkg/<other-pkg>/+REQUIRED_BY file (if the environment variable
PKG_DBDIR is set, this overrides the /var/db/pkg/ path shown
above).
12. Finally, the staging area is deleted and the program terminates.
All the scripts are called with the environment variable PKG_PREFIX set
to the installation prefix (see the -p option above). This allows a
package author to write a script that reliably performs some action on
the directory where the package is installed, even if the user might
change it with the -p flag to pkg_add.
The value of the PKG_PATH is used if a given package can't be found. The
environment variable should be a series of entries separated by colons.
Each entry consists of a directory name. The current directory may be
indicated implicitly by an empty directory name, or explicitly by a single
period.
The environment variable PKG_DBDIR specifies an alternative location for
the installed package database, default location is /var/db/pkg.
The environment variables PKG_TMPDIR and TMPDIR, in that order, are taken
to name temporary directories where pkg_add will attempt to create its
staging area in. If these variables are not present or if the directories
named lack sufficient space, then pkg_add will use the first of
/var/tmp, /tmp or /usr/tmp with sufficient space.
The environment variable PACKAGEROOT specifies an alternate location for
pkg_add to fetch from. The fetch URL is built using this environment
variable and the automatic directory logic that pkg_add uses when the -r
option is invoked. An example setting would be "ftp://ftp3.FreeBSD.org".
The environment variable PACKAGESITE specifies an alternate location for
pkg_add to fetch from. This variable subverts the automatic directory
logic that pkg_add uses when the -r option is invoked. Thus it should be
a complete URL to the remote package file(s).
/var/tmp Temporary directory for creating the staging area, if environmental
variables PKG_TMPDIR or TMPDIR do not point to a
suitable directory.
/tmp Next choice if /var/tmp does not exist or has insufficient
space.
/usr/tmp Last choice if /var/tmp and /tmp are not suitable for creating
the staging area.
/var/db/pkg Default location of the installed package database.
pkg_create(1), pkg_delete(1), pkg_info(1), pkg_version(1), mktemp(3),
sysconf(3), mtree(8)
Jordan Hubbard
John Kohl <[email protected]>
Hard links between files in a distribution are only preserved if either
(1) the staging area is on the same file system as the target directory
of all the links to the file, or (2) all the links to the file are bracketed
by @cwd directives in the contents file, and the link names are
extracted with a single tar command (not split between invocations due to
exec argument-space limitations--this depends on the value returned by
sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX)).
Sure to be others.
FreeBSD 5.2.1 November 25, 1994 FreeBSD 5.2.1 [ Back ] |
