PKG_ADD(1)                 OpenBSD Reference Manual                 PKG_ADD(1)

NAME
     pkg_add - install software package distributions

SYNOPSIS
     pkg_add [-acIinqrsUuvxz] [-A arch] [-B pkg-destdir] [-D name[=value]]
             [-L localbase] [-l file] [-P type] [-Q quick-destdir]
             pkg-name [...]

DESCRIPTION
     The pkg_add command is used to install packages created with the
     pkg_create(1) command.  Selected packages containing pre-compiled appli-
     cations from the /usr/ports tree can be found on the OpenBSD FTP site or
     on the official OpenBSD CD.

           Note: System distribution files, e.g., base28.tgz, comp28.tgz, are
           not packages and may not be installed using pkg_add.

     pkg_add can be used to install new packages, to replace existing packages
     with other flavors (option -r) or to update packages to newer versions
     (option -u).

     Details of packing-list internals are documented in pkg_create(1).

     If a package is digitally signed:

     o   pkg_add checks that its packing-list is not corrupted and matches the
         cryptographic signature stored within.

     o   pkg_add verifies that the signature was emitted by a valid user cer-
         tificate, signed by one of the authorities in /etc/ssl/pkgca.pem

     o   pkg_add verifies that each file matches its sha256 checksum right af-
         ter extraction, before doing anything with it.

     o   pkg_add verifies that any dangerous mode or owner is registered in
         the packing-list.

     In normal mode, the package names given on the command lines are names of
     new packages that pkg_add should install, without ever deinstalling ex-
     isting packages.

     In replacement mode, the package names given on the command lines are
     names of new packages that pkg_add should install, possibly replacing ex-
     isting installed packages.

     In update mode, the package names given on the command lines are names of
     installed packages, and pkg_add should figure out newer package names for
     these, then replace the old packages with the new.

     Each package name may be specified as a filename (which normally consists
     of the package name itself plus the ``.tgz'' suffix) or a URL referring
     to FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, or SCP locations.  The following examples are valid:

     pkg_add -v ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.7/packages/i386/m4-1.4.tgz
     pkg_add -v scp://login@host/usr/ports/packages/sparc/all/tcl-8.4.7.tgz

     If the given package names are not found in the current working directo-
     ry, pkg_add will search for them in each directory named by the PKG_PATH
     environment variable.  Specifying `-' as a package name causes pkg_add to
     read from the standard input.

     pkg_add also understands `stems', that is, package names without any ver-
     sion specification.  For instance, with pkg_add kdelibs, pkg_add will
     look in the current directory (or the PKG_PATH) for a kdelibs package.

     In case of ambiguities, for instance: pkg_add screen (matches screen-4.02
     and screen-4.02-static), pkg_add will error out, unless it is invoked in
     interactive mode (option -i).

     To avoid ambiguities, pkg_add supports `stems with flavors', that is, a
     stem separated from flavors with a double dash.  For instance, the previ-
     ous ambiguity could be resolved by using pkg_add screen-- (matches only
     the normal flavor) or pkg_add screen--static (matches only the static
     flavor).

     If the environment variable PKG_CACHE is set, every package retrieved
     from a distant location will also be copied here.

     Some packages may depend on other packages.  When resolving dependencies
     pkg_add will first look at already installed packages, then match depen-
     dencies with the list of packages left to install, then ask the user's
     opinion in interactive mode, then install default packages that satisfy
     the dependencies.

     Alternatively, it is possible to add packages interactively from within
     the ftp(1) client, in which case setting PKG_PATH correctly will be nec-
     essary for any dependency to be found out and retrieved the same way.
     For example, the following works:

           $ ftp ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.7/packages/i386/
           250 CWD command successful
           ftp> ls m*
           227 Entering Passive Mode (129,128,5,191,164,73)
           150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for m*.
           m4-1.4.tgz
           metamail-2.7.tgz
           mh-6.8.4.tgz
           mm-1.0.12.tgz
           mpeg_lib-1.2.1.tgz
           mpeg_play-2.4.tgz
           mpg123-0.59q.tgz
           mutt-0.95.7i.tgz
           226 Transfer complete.
           ftp> get m4-1.4.tgz "|pkg_add -v -"

     Warning: Since the pkg_add command may execute scripts or programs con-
     tained within a package file, your system may be susceptible to ``trojan
     horses'' or other subtle attacks from miscreants who create dangerous
     packages.  Be sure the specified package(s) are from trusted sources.

     The options are as follows:

     -A arch  Assume arch as current machine architecture for any package
              tests.

     -a       Automated package installation; do not record packages as in-
              stalled manually.

     -B pkg-destdir
              Set pkg-destdir as the prefix to prepend to any object extracted
              from the package.

     -c       While replacing packages, delete extra configuration file in the
              old package, mentioned as
                    @extra file
              in the packing-list.

     -D name[=value]
              Force installation of the package.  name is a keyword that
              states what failsafe should be waived.  Recognized keywords in-
              clude:

              allversions      do not trim older p* variants of packages for
                               updates.
              arch             architecture recorded in package may not match.
              dontmerge        by default, if dependencies are too strict,
                               pkg_add will merge updates together to make
                               sure everything stays in synch.  -D dontmerge
                               disables that behavior.
              downgrade        don't filter out package versions older than
                               what's currently installed.
              installed        in update mode, reinstall an existing package
                               with the same signature.
              libdepends       library specifications may not be fulfilled.
              nonroot          install even if not running as root.
              nosig            do not check digital signatures.  Still dis-
                               plays a very prominent message if a signature
                               is found.
              repair           attempt to repair installed packages with miss-
                               ing registration data.
              scripts          external scripts may fail.
              update           unsafe update: old packing-list will run
                               scripts that may fail.
              updatedepends    force update even if forward dependencies no
                               longer match.

     -I       If scripts exist for a given package, do not execute them.

     -i       Switch on interactive mode.  pkg_add may ask questions to the
              user if faced with difficult decisions.

     -L localbase
              Install a package under localbase.  By default, localbase equals
              /usr/local, and specifying it is not necessary.  However, pack-
              ages can be created using a different localbase (see
              pkg_create(1)), and those packages can only be installed by us-
              ing the same localbase.  See bsd.port.mk(5) for a description of
              LOCALBASE.

     -l file  Installs packages from the raw output of pkg_info(1), as saved
              in file.  Generally, use with pkg_info >file, to reproduce an
              installation from machine to machine.  With -z and -l pkg_add
              will try its best to reproduce the installation, even if the
              version numbers don't quite match and even if some packages can-
              not be found.

     -n       Don't actually install a package, just report the steps that
              would be taken if it was.

     -P type  Check permissions for distribution, where type can be `cdrom' or
              `ftp'.

     -Q quick-destdir
              Quick and dirty installation under quick-destdir.  Contrary to
              -B pkg-destdir, symbolic links are resolved, and package instal-
              lation stops at @endfake marker.

     -q       Replace package quickly; do not bother with checksums before re-
              moving normal files.  If used twice, it will not bother with
              checksums for configuration files either.

     -r       Replace existing packages.  pkg_add will try to take every pre-
              caution to make sure the replacement can proceed before removing
              the old package and adding the new one, and it should also han-
              dle shared libraries correctly.  Among other things, pkg_add
              will refuse to replace packages as soon as it needs to run
              scripts that might fail (use -D update to force the
              replacement); pkg_add will also refuse to replace packages when
              the dependencies don't quite match (use -D updatedepends to
              force the replacement).

     -s       Don't actually install packages, skip as many steps as needed
              and report only the disk size changes that would happen.  Simi-
              lar to -n, except it also skips fetching full packages and stops
              at getting the information it needs.

     -U       Update dependencies if required before installing the new pack-
              age(s).

     -u       Update the given pkgname(s), and anything it depends upon.  If
              no pkgname is given, pkg_add will update all installed packages.
              This relies on PKG_PATH to figure out the new package names.

     -v       Turn on verbose output.  Several -v turn on more verbose output.
              By default, pkg_add is almost completely silent, but it reacts
              to keyboard status requests (see stty(1)).  -v turns on basic
              messages, -vv adds relevant system operations, -vvv shows most
              internal computations apart from individual file/directory addi-
              tions, -vvvv also shows dependencies adjustments, and -vvvvv
              shows everything.

     -x       Disable progress meter.

     -z       Fuzzy package addition: pkg_add should do its best to match
              package names passed on the command line, even if the versions
              don't match and it will proceed even if some packages can't be
              found.

     By default, when adding packages via FTP, the ftp(1) program operates in
     ``passive'' mode.  If you wish to use active mode instead, set the
     FTPMODE environment variable to ``active''.  If pkg_add consistently
     fails to fetch a package from a site known to work, it may be because the
     site does not support passive mode FTP correctly.  This is very rare
     since pkg_add will try active mode FTP if the server refuses a passive
     mode connection.

   Technical details
     pkg_add deals with `updatesets' internally.  An updateset is a collection
     of old package(s) to delete, and new package(s) to install, as an atomic
     operation.  Under normal circumstances, an updateset contains at most one
     old package and one new package, but some situations may require pkg_add
     to perform several installations/deletions at once.

     For each new package in an updateset, pkg_add extracts the package's
     ``packing information'' (the packing list, description, and installa-
     tion/deinstallation scripts) into a special staging directory in /var/tmp
     (or PKG_TMPDIR if set - see CAVEATS, below) 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, the installation is terminated.

     2.   A check is made to determine if the package conflicts (from
          @conflict directives; see pkg_create(1)) with a package already
          recorded as installed.  In non-replacement mode, its installation is
          terminated.

     3.   For packages tagged with architecture constraints, pkg_add verifies
          that the current machine architecture agrees with the constraints.

     4.   All package dependencies (from @depend and @wantlib directives; see
          pkg_create(1)) are read from the packing list.  If any of these de-
          pendencies are not currently fulfilled, an attempt is made to find a
          package that meets them and install it, looking first in the current
          updateset, then in the list of packages to install passed to
          pkg_add; if no adequate package can be found and installed, the in-
          stallation is terminated.

     5.   pkg_add checks for collisions with installed file names, read-only
          file systems, and enough space to store files.

     6.   If the package contains an install script, it is executed with the
          following arguments:

          pkg-name      The name of the package being installed.

          PRE-INSTALL   Keyword denoting that the script is to perform any ac-
                        tions needed before the package is installed.

          If the install script exits with a non-zero status code, the instal-
          lation is terminated.

     7.   The packing list is used as a guide for extracting files from the
          package into their final locations.

     8.   If an install script exists for the package, it is executed with the
          following arguments:

          pkg_name      The name of the package being installed.

          POST-INSTALL  Keyword denoting that the script is to perform any ac-
                        tions needed after the package has been installed.

     9.   After installation is complete, a copy of all package files such as
          the packing-list, the install and deinstall scripts, the description
          file is made into /var/db/pkg/<pkg-name> for subsequent possible use
          by pkg_delete(1) and pkg_info(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).

     10.  Finally, the staging area is deleted and the program terminates.

     Note that it is safe to interrupt pkg_add through SIGINT, SIGHUP, and
     other signals, as it will safely record an interrupted install as
     partial-<pkgname>[.n].

     When replacing packages, the procedure is slightly different.

     1.   A check is made to determine if a similar package is already in-
          stalled.  If its signature is identical to that of the new package,
          no replacement is performed (unless -D installed is specified).

     2.   A check is made to determine what old package(s) the new package(s)
          should replace, using conflicts.  pkg_add will attempt to update
          those packages.  If they update to the new package(s), nothing needs
          to be done.  If they're part of the list of updatesets to install,
          the corresponding updatesets will be merged.  Otherwise, pkg_add
          will add them to the current updateset, and rerun update to find
          suitable update to those packages.

     3.   A check is made to determine whether the old packages will be delet-
          ed without issue, and whether the new packages will install correct-
          ly.  This includes refusing to run any code (unless -D update), and
          verifying that the new package still matches dependencies (unless -D
          updatedepends).

     4.   Shared libraries deserve special treatment: each shared library from
          the old packages that does no longer exist in the new packages, but
          that is required from a wantlib of another package is kept along in
          a stub package named .libs-<pkgname>.

     5.   The new packages are extracted to the filesystem, using temporary
          filenames of the form pkg.XXXXXXX since the old packages are still
          there.  The packing-list is amended to record these names as @temp
          annotations, in cases the installation fails.

     6.   The old packages are deleted as usual, except that some packages may
          still depend on them.  Note also that @unexec-delete commands are
          not executed.

     7.   The new packages are installed as usual, except that the files are
          already present and only need to be renamed.  Note also that @exec-
          add commands are not executed.

     8.   Dependencies from the old packages are adjusted to point to the cor-
          rect new package.

     To update packages in -u mode, pkg_add performs the following steps.

     1.   Each package name is reduced to its stem, and every package name
          with matching stem available through PKG_PATH is considered as an
          update candidate.

     2.   pkg_add searches for a `quirks' package first, which may contain ex-
          ceptions to these rules.  This special package contains global in-
          formation, such as packages that can be deleted because they're now
          part of base, or stem changes.

     3.   Version matching occurs: unless -D downgrade, only packages with
          newer versions will be considered as update candidates.  Note that
          version matching is costly, thus PKG_PATH should point to a snapshot
          of packages for a given version of OpenBSD, similar to the organiza-
          tion on the FTP sites.

     4.   Candidates are then matched according to their source paths (the
          subdirectory of the ports dir, plus flavors and multi-packages modi-
          fiers), in order to weed out similar packages with distinct options.

     5.   The signature of the candidate is compared to the signature of the
          already installed package: identical signatures mean no update need-
          ed.

     6.   If several candidates are left, pkg_add will ask the user in inter-
          active mode, and not perform the update in non-interactive mode.

     7.   Once a suitable update candidate has been found, pkg_add checks the
          package dependencies.  If necessary, it will install or update them
          first.  Once all dependencies are up-to-date, pkg_add will update
          the package.

ENVIRONMENT
     FTPMODE      Specifies whether ftp(1) should operate in ``active'' or
                  ``passive'' mode.  The default is ``passive''.

     FETCH_CMD    Override use of ftp(1).  Must point to a command that under-
                  stands ${FETCH_CMD} -o - url.

     FTP_KEEPALIVE
                  Have ftp(1) send a byte after every FTP_KEEPALIVE seconds,
                  so that incorrectly configured network equipment won't ag-
                  gressively drop it.  See ``ftp -k'' for more information.

     PKG_DBDIR    Where to register packages instead of /var/db/pkg.

     PKG_DESTDIR  Value for pkg-destdir, if no -B option is specified; value
                  passed to any INSTALL or REQUIRE script invoked from the
                  package.

     PKG_CACHE    If set, any package retrieved from a distant location will
                  be copied to that directory as well.

     PKG_PATH     If a given package name cannot be found, the directories
                  named by PKG_PATH are searched.  It should contain a series
                  of entries separated by colons.  Each entry consists of a
                  directory name.  URL schemes such as FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, or
                  SCP are also appropriate.  The current directory may be in-
                  dicated implicitly by an empty directory name, or explicitly
                  by a single period (`./').

     PKG_TMPDIR   Temporary area where package information files will be ex-
                  tracted, instead of /var/tmp.

SEE ALSO
     ftp(1), pkg_create(1), pkg_delete(1), pkg_info(1), OpenBSD::Intro(3p),
     bsd.port.mk(5), package(5)

AUTHORS
     Jordan Hubbard
             Initial design.
     Marc Espie
             Complete rewrite.

CAVEATS
     Package extraction does need a temporary area that can hold executable
     scripts.

     If /var/tmp is mounted noexec, you must currently set PKG_TMPDIR to a
     suitable area, as pkg_add will refuse to install any package that con-
     tains executable scripts.

OpenBSD 4.7                    February 28, 2010                             7
