optdepends=('fakeroot: for makepkg usage as normal user')
PKGBUILD - Arch Linux package build description file
PKGBUILD
This manual page is meant to describe general rules about PKGBUILDs. Once a PKGBUILD is written, the actual package is built using makepkg and installed with pacman.
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Note
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If you are using Arch Linux and have a local copy of the Arch Build System (ABS) tree on your computer, or are using another distribution that provides a similar tree of build files, you can copy the provided PKGBUILD.proto file to a new package build directory and make customizations to suit your needs. An up to date prototype file can also be found in the source distribution of this package. |
The following is a list of standard options and directives available for use in a PKGBUILD. These are all understood and interpreted by makepkg, and most will be directly transferred to the built package.
If you need to create any custom variables for use in your build process, it is recommended to name your custom variables with an _ (underscore) prefix. This will prevent any possible name clashes with internal makepkg variables. For example, to store the base kernel version in a variable, use something similar to $_basekernver.
The name of the package. This has be a unix-friendly name as it will be used in the package filename.
The version of the software as released from the author (e.g. 2.7.1).
This is the release number specific to the Arch Linux release. This allows package maintainers to make updates to the package's configure flags, for example. A pkgrel of 1 is typically used for each upstream software release and is incremented for intermediate PKGBUILD updates.
This should be a brief description of the package and its functionality. Try to keep the description to one line of text.
This field contains a URL that is associated with the software being packaged. This is typically the project's website.
This field specifies the license(s) that apply to the package. Commonly-used licenses are found in /usr/share/licenses/common. If you see the package's license there, simply reference it in the license field (e.g. license=('GPL')). If the package provides a license not found in /usr/share/licenses/common, then you should include the license in the package itself and set license=('custom') or license=('custom:LicenseName'). The license should be placed in $pkgdir/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname when building the package. If multiple licenses are applicable for a package, list all of them: license=('GPL' 'FDL').
Specifies a special install script that is to be included in the package. This file should reside in the same directory as the PKGBUILD, and will be copied into the package by makepkg. It does not need to be included in the source array (e.g. install=pkgname.install).
An array of source files required to build the package. Source files must either reside in the same directory as the PKGBUILD file, or be a fully-qualified URL that makepkg will use to download the file. In order to make the PKGBUILD as useful as possible, use the $pkgname and $pkgver variables if possible when specifying the download location. Any files that are compressed will automatically be extracted, unless found in the noextract array listed below.
It is also possible to specify an optional filename, which is helpful with weird URLs and for handling multiple source files with the same name. The syntax is: source=(filename::url)
An array of filenames corresponding to those from the source array. Files listed here will not be extracted with the rest of the source files. This is useful for packages which use compressed data which is downloaded but not necessary to uncompress.
This array contains an MD5 hash for every source file specified in the source array (in the same order). makepkg will use this to verify source file integrity during subsequent builds. To easily generate md5sums, run “makepkg -g >> PKGBUILD”. If desired, move the md5sums line to an appropriate location.
Alternative integrity checks that makepkg supports; these all behave similar to the md5sums option described above. To enable use and generation of these checksums, be sure to set up the INTEGRITY_CHECK option in makepkg.conf(5).
An array of symbolic names that represent groups of packages, allowing you to install multiple packages by requesting a single target. For example, one could install all KDE packages by installing the kde group.
Defines on which architectures the given package is available (e.g. arch=('i686' 'x86_64')).
A space-delimited array of filenames, without preceding slashes, that should be backed up if the package is removed or upgraded. This is commonly used for packages placing configuration files in /etc. See Handling Config Files in pacman(8) for more information.
An array of packages that this package depends on to run. Packages in this list should be surrounded with single quotes and contain at least the package name. Entries can also include a version requirement of the form name<>version, where <> is one of five comparisons: >= (greater than or equal to), ⇐ (less than or equal to), = (equal to), > (greater than), or < (less than).
An array of packages that this package depends on to build, but are not needed at runtime. Packages in this list follow the same format as depends.
An array of optional packages (and accompanying reasons) that are not essential to the package, but would offer increased functionality or other features when installed. optdepends are currently for informational purposes only and are not utilized by pacman during dependency resolution. The format should be similar to the following:
optdepends=('fakeroot: for makepkg usage as normal user')
An array of packages that will conflict with this package (i.e. they cannot both be installed at the same time). This directive follows the same format as depends. Versioned conflicts are also supported.
An array of “virtual provisions” that this package provides. This allows a package to provide dependencies other than its own package name. For example, the dcron package can provide cron, which allows packages to depend on cron rather than dcron OR fcron. Versioned provisions are also possible, in the name=version format. For example, dcron can provide cron=2.0 to satisfy the cron>=2.0 dependency of other packages.
An array of packages that this package should replace, and can be used to handle renamed/combined packages. For example, if the j2re package is renamed to jre, this directive allows future upgrades to continue as expected even though the package has moved. Sysupgrade is currently the only pacman operation that utilizes this field, a normal sync will not use its value.
This array allows you to override some of makepkg's default behavior when building packages. To set an option, just include the option name in the options array. To reverse the default behavior, place an “!” at the front of the option. Only specify the options you specifically want to override, the rest will be taken from makepkg.conf(5). NOTE: force is a special option only used in a PKGBUILD(5), do not use it unless you know what you are doing.
Strip symbols from binaries and libraries. If you frequently use a debugger on programs or libraries, it may be helpful to disable this option.
Save doc directories. If you wish to delete doc directories, specify !docs in the array.
Leave libtool (.la) files in packages. Specify !libtool to remove them.
Leave empty directories in packages.
Compress man and info pages with gzip.
Allow the use of ccache during build. More useful in its negative form !ccache with select packages that have problems building with ccache.
Allow the use of distcc during build. More useful in its negative form !distcc with select packages that have problems building with distcc.
Allow the use of user-specific makeflags during build as specified in makepkg.conf(5). More useful in its negative form !makeflags with select packages that have problems building with custom makeflags such as -j2 (or higher).
Force the package to be upgraded by a pacman system upgrade operation, even if the version number would normally not trigger such an upgrade. This is useful when the version numbering scheme of a package changes (or is alphanumeric). See pacman(8) for more infomation on version comparisons.
In addition to the above directives, the build() bash function comprises the remainder of the PKGBUILD. This is directly sourced and executed by makepkg, so anything that bash or the system has available is available for use here. Be sure any exotic commands used are covered by makedepends.
All of the above variables such as pkgname and pkgver are available for use in the build function. In addition, makepkg defines three variables for your use during the build and install process. These three variables are as follows:
This contains the absolute path to the directory where the PKGBUILD was located, which is usually the output of $(pwd) when makepkg is started. startdir was most often used in combination with /src or /pkg postfixes, but use of the srcdir and pkgdir variables is preferred.
This points to the directory where makepkg extracts or copies all source files. Although it currently is an alias for $startdir/src, this assumption should not be assumed true for all future revisions of makepkg.
This points to the directory where makepkg bundles the installed package (this directory will become the root directory of your built package). Although it currently is an alias for $startdir/pkg, this assumption should not be assumed true for all future revisions of makepkg.
If you create any variables of your own in the build function, it is recommended to use the bash local keyword to scope the variable to inside the build function.
Pacman has the ability to store and execute a package-specific script when it installs, removes, or upgrades a package. This allows a package to configure itself after installation and perform an opposite action upon removal.
The exact time the script is run varies with each operation:
script is run right before files are extracted. One argument is passed: new package version.
script is run right after files are extracted. One argument is passed: new package version.
script is run right before files are extracted. Two arguments are passed in the following order: new package version, old package version.
script is run after files are extracted. Two arguments are passed in the following order: new package version, old package version.
script is run right before files are removed. One argument is passed: old package version.
script is run right after files are removed. One argument is passed: old package version.
To use this feature, create a file such as pkgname.install and put it in the same directory as the PKGBUILD script. Then use the install directive:
install=pkgname.install
The install script does not need to be specified in the source array. A template install file is available with the source distribution of this program, or one may be provided by your distribution. For example, Arch Linux provides prototype install files in the ABS tree.
makepkg supports building development versions of packages without having to manually update the pkgver in the PKGBUILD. This was formerly done using the separate utility versionpkg. In order to utilize this functionality, your PKGBUILD must use correct variable names depending on the SCM being fetched from.
The generated pkgver will be the date the package is built.
The root of the CVS repository.
The CVS module to fetch.
The generated pkgver will be the latest SVN revision number.
The trunk of the SVN repository.
The SVN module to fetch.
The generated pkgver will be one formatted by the git-describe command, with - characters converted to _ characters.
The URL (all protocols supported) to the GIT repository.
GIT tag or branch to use.
The generated pkgver will be the hg tip revision number.
The URL of the mercurial repository.
The repository to follow.
The generated pkgver will be the date the package is built.
URL to the repository trunk.
Darcs module to use.
The generated pkgver will be the latest Bazaar revision number (revno).
URL to the bazaar repository.
Bazaar module to use.
The following is an example PKGBUILD for the patch package. For more examples, look through the build files of your distribution's packages. For those using Arch Linux, consult the ABS tree.
# Maintainer: Joe User <joe.user@example.com> pkgname=patch pkgver=2.5.4 pkgrel=3 pkgdesc="A utility to apply patch files to original sources" arch=(i686 x86_64) url="http://www.gnu.org/software/patch/patch.html" license=('GPL') groups=('base-devel') depends=('glibc' 'ed') source=(ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/$pkgname/$pkgname-$pkgver.tar.gz) md5sums=('ee5ae84d115f051d87fcaaef3b4ae782') build() { cd $srcdir/$pkgname-$pkgver ./configure --prefix=/usr make || return 1 make prefix=$pkgdir/usr install }
See the pacman website at http://www.archlinux.org/pacman/ for current information on pacman and its related tools.
Bugs? You must be kidding, there are no bugs in this software. But if we happen to be wrong, send us an email with as much detail as possible to pacman-dev@archlinux.org.
Current maintainers:
Dan McGee <dan@archlinux.org>
Xavier Chantry <shiningxc@gmail.com>
Aaron Griffin <aaron@archlinux.org>
Past contributors:
Judd Vinet <jvinet@zeroflux.org>
Aurelien Foret <aurelien@archlinux.org>
See the AUTHORS file for additional contributors.