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 specialized command sequences in the packing list. Briefly described, these sequences are:
@cwd directory
Set 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.
@src directory
This command is supported for compatibility only. It was formerly used to override @cwd during package creation.
@exec command
Execute
command as part of the unpacking process. If
command contains 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 filespec, 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 currently supported one being preserve, which tells pkg_add to move any existing files out of the way, preserving 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
Embed 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.
@name name
Set 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 pkg-name and add it automatically if none is given.
@pkgdir name
Declare directory name as managed. If it does not exist at installation time, it is created. If this directory is no longer referenced by packages and the last file or directory in it is deleted, the directory is removed as well.
@dirrm name
This command is supported for compatibility only. If directory name exists, it will be deleted at deinstall time.
@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 deinstalled. Multiple @pkgdep directives may be used if the package depends on multiple other packages.
@blddep pkgname
Declare that this package was built with the exact version of pkgname (since the @pkgdep directive may contain wildcards or relational package version information).
@pkgcfl 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.