PKG-CREATE(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual PKG-CREATE(8)
NAME
pkg create - a utility for creating software package distributions
SYNOPSIS
pkg create [-enqv] [-f format] [-l level] [-o outdir] [-p plist]
[-r rootdir] [-t timestamp] [-T threads] -m metadatadir
pkg create [-enqv] [-f format] [-l level] [-o outdir] [-r rootdir]
[-t timestamp] [-T threads] -M manifest
pkg create [-egnqvx] [-f format] [-l level] [-o outdir] [-r rootdir]
[-t timestamp] [-T threads] pkg-name ...
pkg create [-enqv] [-f format] [-l level] [-o outdir] [-r rootdir]
[-t timestamp] [-T threads] -a
pkg create [--expand-manifest] [--no-clobber] [--quiet] [--verbose]
[--format format] [--level level] [--out-dir outdir]
[--plist plist] [--root-dir rootdir] --metadata metadatadir
pkg create [--expand-manifest] [--no-clobber] [--quiet] [--verbose]
[--format format] [--level level] [--out-dir outdir]
[--root-dir rootdir] --manifest manifest
pkg create [--expand-manifest] [--{glob,no-clobber,regex}] [--quiet]
[--verbose] [--format format] [--level level]
[--out-dir outdir] [--root-dir rootdir] pkg-name ...
pkg create [--expand-manifest] [--no-clobber] [--quiet] [--verbose]
[--format format] [--level level] [--out-dir outdir]
[--root-dir rootdir] --all
DESCRIPTION
pkg create is used to create packages from binaries or other files
installed on your computer. Package tarballs can be created from the
files of a previously installed package using metadata from the local
package database. Any number of packages may be created in one
invocation of this style.
Alternatively, a single package can be created from an arbitrary
selection of files on your system, but this requires a metadatadir and
optionally plist to be supplied. The package name will be derived from
the +MANIFEST file which must be contained within the metadatadir, or
passed as the argument to -M.
Packages thus created can be distributed and subsequently installed on
other machines using the pkg add command.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported by pkg create:
-M manifest, --manifest manifest
Read all of the package metadata from the manifest
file. This is exactly the same format as +MANIFEST
mentioned above, but any file name can be used, and no
other file will be used to read package metadata from.
If specified, only a single package will be created.
This option is incompatible with the -m, -a, -g or -x
options.
-T threads threads represents the number of threads to use during
the compression of the archive. Set it to "0" or
"auto" to have pkg create detect the number of CPUs and
use one thread per CPU.
-a, --all Create package tarballs from all packages installed on
your system. This option is incompatible with the -g,
-x or -m metadatadir options.
-e, --expand-manifest
The manifest contained in pkg will be expanded to
readable UCL format.
-f format, --format format
Set format as the package compression format. It can
be one of tzst, txz, tbz, tgz or tar which are
currently the only supported formats. If an invalid
format, or no format, is specified then tzst is
assumed. (The .pkg extension is used for all
compression types.)
-h, --hash Append a short hash of the package contents to the
package filename. This can be used in combination with
-s to create symlinks between the hashed and regular
filenames.
-g, --glob Interpret pkg-name as a shell glob pattern and create
package only for installed binaries whose name match
this pattern. This option is incompatible with the -a,
-x or -m metadatadir options.
-l level, --level level
Set the compression level for created packages. It can
be any valid numeric compression level you might
specify to the underlying compression format.
Additionally, level may be one of the special words
"fast" or "best". If level is one of these special
words, the fastest or slowest compression level,
respectively, for the specified compression format, is
used.
-m metadatadir, --metadata metadatadir
Specify the directory containing the package manifest,
+MANIFEST and optionally two other files; one
containing a message to be displayed on package
installation, +DISPLAY, and another containing the
description for the package, +DESC. If specified, only
a single package will be created. +DISPLAY and +DESC
are not required; the +MANIFEST file can contain all
the required information needed to build a package.
This option is incompatible with the -M, -a, -g or -x
options.
-n, --no-clobber Do not overwrite already existing packages.
-o outdir, --out-dir outdir
Set outdir as the output directory. If this option is
not given, all created packages will be saved in the
current directory.
-p plist, --plist plist
Specify some package metadata using the legacy plist
format from pkg_add(1), commonly found in pkg-plist
files in the ports tree. Metadata from the plist file,
if specified, will take precedence over any equivalents
from the metadatadir. Only has any effect when used
with metadatadir. See PLIST FORMAT for details.
-q, --quiet Force quiet output. This is the default, unless
PKG_CREATE_VERBOSE is set to yes in pkg.conf.
-r rootdir, --root-dir rootdir
rootdir specifies the top-level directory to be treated
as the root of the filesystem hierarchy containing the
package files. File paths in generated packages will
be relative to rootdir. This allows a package to be
generated from content offset from its intended final
location, which allows a package building without
disturbing similar content already on the system. If
unspecified, the default is effectively /, the actual
root directory.
-t timestamp, --timestamp
Set the timestamp of the files within the archive.
-v, --verbose Force verbose output, the opposite of --quiet.
-x, --regex Like -g, but interpret pkg-name as a regular expression
using the "modern" or "extended" syntax described in
re_format(7). This option is incompatible with the -a,
-g or -m metadatadir options.
MANIFEST FILE DETAILS
name pkg-name
This entry sets the package's name to pkg-name. Among other things,
this name is used - with the version and the origin of the concerned
package - to identify a dependency.
version pkg-version
This entry sets the package's version to pkg-version.
origin pkg-origin
This entry sets the package's origin to pkg-origin. This is a
string of the form category/port-dir which designates the port this
package was built from.
comment comment-string
comment-string is a one-line description of this package. It is the
equivalent of the COMMENT variable for a port, not a way to put
comments in a +MANIFEST file.
desc description
description is a longer description of the package. It is the
equivalent of the pkg-descr file for a port. It may be one to a few
paragraphs. For example:
desc = <<EOD
This is a longer description of the package.
It can span multiple lines.
It can also span multiple paragraphs.
EOD
arch cpu-type
The architecture of the machine the package was built on. cpu-type
takes values like x86, amd64...
www url
The software's official website.
maintainer mail-address
The maintainer's mail address.
prefix path-prefix
The path where the files contained in this package are installed
(usually /usr/local).
flatsize size
The size that the files contained in this package will occupy on
your system once uncompressed. This value does not take into
account files stored in the package database.
deps dep-name dep-origin dep-version
Associative array of package dependencies, keyed on dep-name and
with values version dep-version and origin dep-origin. For example:
"deps" : {
"pstree" : {
"version" : "2.36",
"origin" : "sysutils/pstree"
},
"cdiff" : {
"version" : "0.9.6.20140711,1",
"origin" : "textproc/cdiff"
},
},
conflict pkg-glob
Flag this package as incompatible with the one designated by
pkg-glob. Conflicting packages cannot be installed on the same
system as they may contain references to the same files.
option option-name option-value
Set the option option-name to the value option-value.
file sha256-hash path
file entries list files included in the package. If the file is a
regular one, such an entry contains its sha256 digest along with its
path. If a packaged file is a link, you must use this entry's other
form, as described below.
file - path
Same as above but for file links. The sha256 hash is replaced with
a - (dash).
dir path
Mimics the file entry but for directories.
PLIST FORMAT
The following describes the plist format:
The plist is a sequential list of lines which can have keywords
prepended. A keyword starts with an `@'. Lines not starting with a
keyword are considered as paths to a file. If started with a `/' then it
is considered an absolute path. Otherwise the file is considered as
relative to PREFIX.
Keyword lines are formed as follows: @keyword line
Available keywords are the following:
@cwd [directory]
Set the internal directory pointer to point to directory. All
subsequent filenames will be assumed relative to this directory.
@mode mode
Set default permission for all subsequently extracted files to
mode. Format is the same as that used by the chmod command. Use
without an arg to set back to default (mode of the file while
being packed) permissions.
@owner user
Set default ownership for all subsequent files to user. Use
without an arg to set back to default (root) ownership.
@group group
Set default group ownership for all subsequent files to group.
Use without an arg to set back to default (wheel) group
ownership.
@comment string
The line will be ignored when packing.
@dir name
Declare directory name to be deleted at deinstall time. By
default, most directories created by a package installation are
deleted automatically when the package is deinstalled, so this
directive is only needed for empty directories or directories
outside of PREFIX. These directives should appear at the end of
the package list. If the directory is not empty a warning will
be printed, and the directory will not be removed.
(Subdirectories should be listed before parent directories.)
@include name
Include the name plist file to the plist currently being parsed.
the name will be opened relatively to the main plist file being
parsed. Note: only one level of @include is allowed
@for VAR val1 val2 ...
@end Begin and end a loop construct. All lines between @for and @end
are repeated once for each value listed after VAR. Inside the
loop body, occurrences of %%VAR%% are substituted with the
current value.
For example:
@for COLOR red blue green
share/myapp/%%COLOR%%.conf
@end
expands to:
share/myapp/red.conf
share/myapp/blue.conf
share/myapp/green.conf
The loop body may contain any valid plist line, including other
keywords. Loops can be nested: an inner @for / @end block inside
an outer loop body will be expanded for every combination of
outer and inner values.
ESCAPE SEQUENCES
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables affect the execution of pkg create.
See pkg.conf(5) for further description.
PKG_DBDIR
PLIST_KEYWORDS_DIR
PORTSDIR
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
Set the timestamp for every single file in the archive
to the one specified in the environment variable
FILES
See pkg.conf(5).
EXAMPLES
Create package files for installed packages:
% pkg create -a -o /usr/ports/packages/All
Create package file for pkg:
% pkg create -o /usr/ports/packages/All pkg
SEE ALSO
pkg_checksum(3), pkg_create(3), pkg_printf(3), pkg_repo_create(3),
pkg_repos(3), pkg-keywords(5), pkg-lua-script(5), pkg-repository(5),
pkg-script(5), pkg-triggers(5), pkg.conf(5), pkg(8), pkg-add(8),
pkg-alias(8), pkg-annotate(8), pkg-audit(8), pkg-autoremove(8),
pkg-check(8), pkg-checksum(8), pkg-clean(8), pkg-config(8),
pkg-delete(8), pkg-fetch(8), pkg-help(8), pkg-info(8), pkg-install(8),
pkg-key(8), pkg-lock(8), pkg-plugins(8), pkg-query(8), pkg-register(8),
pkg-repo(8), pkg-repositories(8), pkg-rquery(8), pkg-rwhich(8),
pkg-search(8), pkg-set(8), pkg-shell(8), pkg-shlib(8), pkg-ssh(8),
pkg-stats(8), pkg-triggers(8), pkg-unregister(8), pkg-update(8),
pkg-updating(8), pkg-upgrade(8), pkg-version(8), pkg-which(8)
FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD December 13, 2025 PKG-CREATE(8)