xref: /openbsd/usr.sbin/pkg_add/package.5 (revision 898184e3)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: package.5,v 1.12 2011/09/29 17:57:09 jmc Exp $
2.\" Copyright (c) 2005-2006 Marc Espie <espie@openbsd.org>
3.\"
4.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
5.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
6.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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15.Dd $Mdocdate: September 29 2011 $
16.Dt PACKAGE 5
17.Os
18.Sh NAME
19.Nm package
20.Nd format for
21.Ox
22binary packages
23.Sh DESCRIPTION
24Binary packages for
25.Ox
26can be created using
27.Xr pkg_create 1
28and are usually manipulated using
29.Xr pkg_add 1 ,
30.Xr pkg_mklocatedb 1 ,
31or
32.Xr pkg_info 1 .
33.Pp
34The basic underlying format is an archive following the ustar specification
35that can be handled with
36.Xr tar 1
37and compressed using
38.Xr gzip 1 .
39.Pp
40Package names always end in
41.Dq .tgz ;
42the file name itself should conform to
43.Xr packages-specs 7 .
44.Pp
45Note that the base distribution tarballs of
46.Ox
47(e.g.\&
48.Pa baseXXX.tgz ,
49.Pa compXXX.tgz ,
50\&...) are not binary packages fit for
51.Xr pkg_add 1 .
52.Pp
53All types of archive contents can be present in a package,
54including files, directories, hardlinks, symlinks, fifos, block and character
55devices.
56.Pp
57In order to allow just-in-time extraction,
58packages always begin with a table of contents, named
59.Pa +CONTENTS .
60This table of contents can be read using the API described in
61.Xr OpenBSD::PackingList 3p .
62.Pp
63All the remaining information in the archive should be referenced in
64the packing-list, including all relevant information: symlinks destinations,
65special permissions, and file owners.
66See
67.Xr pkg_create 1
68for annotation details.
69.Pp
70This table of contents is always followed by a few special files, some of
71which are optional: the package description (+DESC),
72a display message (+DISPLAY), etc.
73.Pp
74The ustar format has some limitations with respect to file names.
75Accordingly, the package tools will replace very long names with
76.Pa LongName#n
77and long link names with
78.Pa LongLink#n .
79The packing-list will hold the real file names, and the package tools
80will reconstitute the correct names behind the scenes.
81.Sh PACKAGE SIGNATURES
82All information within a package is checksummed, using SHA256 since
83.Ox 4.4 .
84During creation and installation, meta-information, such as file owners and
85permissions, are also checked: any important stuff that isn't recorded
86in the packing-list is an error.
87.Pp
88Packing-lists can be signed.
89If a signature is found, then it will be checked
90during installation, and failure to verify will prevent the package from
91installing correctly.
92Currently, only X.509-style signatures are supported.
93They rely on a certificate authority file being present as
94.Pa /etc/ssl/pkgca.pem
95and all signatures will be checked against it.
96Once the packing-list signature is checked, all individual packing elements
97will be checksummed, resulting in a
98.Sq just-in-time
99signature checking.
100.Pp
101Fat packages were removed in
102.Ox 5.1 ,
103since no practical application was found.
104.Sh SEE ALSO
105.Xr pkg_add 1 ,
106.Xr pkg_create 1 ,
107.Xr pkg_info 1 ,
108.Xr packages 7 ,
109.Xr packages-specs 7
110.Sh STANDARDS
111Packages are valid gzip'ed ustar archives that can be extracted using
112.Xr tar 1 .
113In particular, hardlink names should be valid, and all items will
114extract to different names.
115However, it may be a bit difficult to make sense of the package contents
116without peeking at the packing-list.
117