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pkg_add(1)

NAME

     pkg_add -- a utility for installing software package distributions

SYNOPSIS

     pkg_add [-vInfrRMS] [-t template] [-p prefix] [-C chrootdir] pkg-name
	     [pkg-name ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The pkg_add command is used to extract packages that have been previously
     created with the pkg_create(1) command.

WARNING

     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.

OPTIONS

     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 any 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 appro-
	     priate objformat and release and then fetch and install the pack-
	     age.

     -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
	     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 directo-
	     ries 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), read-
	     ing 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 struc-
	     ture 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.

     -C chrootdir
	     Before doing any operations, chroot(2) to the chrootdir directory
	     so that all package files, and the package database, are
	     installed to chrootdir.  Note that chrootdir needs to be a fairly
	     complete file system, including everything normally needed by
	     pkg_add to run.  This flag was added to help support operations
	     done by sysinstall(8) and is not expected to be useful for much
	     else.  Be careful that chrootdir is properly configured and can-
	     not be modified by normal users, versions of commands like
	     fetch(1) may be run inside chrootdir as a side effect.

     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.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

     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

     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 cur-
	  rently 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 copy-
	  ing, 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)).

	  /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 vari-
	  able 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.

ENVIRONMENT

     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 sin-
     gle 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 directo-
     ries 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).

FILES

     /var/tmp	  Temporary directory for creating the staging area, if envi-
		  ronmental 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 creat-
		  ing the staging area.
     /var/db/pkg  Default location of the installed package database.

SEE ALSO

     pkg_create(1), pkg_delete(1), pkg_info(1), pkg_version(1), mktemp(3),
     sysconf(3), mtree(8)

AUTHORS

     Jordan Hubbard

CONTRIBUTORS

     exec argument-space limitations--this depends on the value returned by
     sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX)).

     Sure to be others.

FreeBSD 5.4			 March 1, 2004			   FreeBSD 5.4

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