PACKAGES-SPECS(7) OpenBSD Reference Manual PACKAGES-SPECS(7)NAMEpackages-specs - binary package names specifications
DESCRIPTION
Each package has a name consisting of at most three parts:
stem-version[-flavors]
The stem part identifies the package. It may contain some dashes, but
its form is mostly conventional. For instance, japanese packages usually
start with a `ja' prefix, e.g., "ja-kterm-6.2.0".
The version part starts at the first digit that follows a `-', and goes
on up to the following `-', or to the end of the package name, if no
flavor modifier is present. All packages must have a version number.
Normally, the version number directly matches the original software
distribution version number, or release date. In case there are
substantial changes in the OpenBSD package, a patch level marker should
be appended, e.g., `p0', `p1 ...' For example, assuming that the screen
package for release 2.8 was named "screen-2.9.8" and that an important
security patch led to a newer package, the new package would be called
"screen-2.9.8p0". Obviously, these specific markers are reserved for
OpenBSD purposes. See REVISION in bsd.port.mk(5).
Version comparison is done using the dewey notation with a few specific
rules.
o The version number is cut into separate parts on each dot `.'.
o Comparison checks each part in turn, the first part that differs
yields a comparison result.
o If parts are numbers they are compared numerically.
o Parts can also be numbers with an optional letter appended. The
numbers are compared numerically, and in case of equality, the letter
makes the difference.
o Other parts are compared alphabetically.
o The last part may contain an extra suffix matching rc[N], beta[N],
pre[N], or pl[N], with N an optional number. These correspond to
traditional notations for `release candidate', `beta version',
`pre-release', `patch-level', and are ordered accordingly, e.g., beta
is oldest, rc and pre are next (and non-comparable to one another),
then normal version, and finally pl.
- "foo-1.01" is equal to "foo-1.1", which can lead to surprises..
- "foo-1.001" is older than "foo-1.002", which in turns is older
than "foo-1.0010"
- "foo-1.0rc2" is not comparable to "foo-1.0pre3"
- "bar-1.0beta3" is older than "bar-1.0rc1"
- "baz-1.0" is older than "baz-1.0pl1"
In some rare cases, version numbering changes completely upstream. A
version style marker, of the form `v0', `v1 ...' can be appended to the
version number (after the patch level) to denote the new numbering
scheme. See EPOCH in bsd.port.mk(5).
Flavored packages will also contain a list of flavors after the version
identifier, in a canonical order determined by FLAVORS in the
corresponding port's Makefile. For instance, kterm has an xaw3d flavor:
"ja-kterm-xaw3d".
Note that, to uniquely identify the version part, no flavor shall ever
start with a digit. Usually, flavored packages are slightly different
versions of the same package that offer very similar functionalities.
CONFLICTS
Most conflicts between packages are handled on a package name basis.
Unless the packages have been specially prepared, it is normally not
possible to install two packages with the same stem.
Note that the stem ends at the version part. So, for instance,
"kdelibs-1.1.2" and "kdelibs-2.1.1" conflict. But "openldap-2.0.7" and
"openldap-client-2.0.7" don't. Neither do "qt-1.45" and "qt2-3.0".
DEPENDENCIES
Packages may depend on other packages, as specified by their port's
Makefile, in a BUILD_DEPENDS, LIB_DEPENDS, REGRESS_DEPENDS or
RUN_DEPENDS. All those conform to
[pkgspec:]directory,[-multi],[flavor...]
The directory,[-multi],[flavor...] part of the dependency is always used
to obtain the default dependency for the given package (the package that
will be built and installed if no package is found). The corresponding
package name is also used as a package specification, after removing any
version and flavor requirements.
Without a `pkgspec:' part, by default, any package with the right stem
will do: in effect, the pkgspec used is `stem-*'.
In OpenBSD 4.9, the dependent port may override this default, and set
PKGSPEC to achieve a more restrictive default, for instance,
databases/db/v3 sets the default to "PKGSPEC = db->=3,<4" to avoid
collision with databases/db/v4. Be extra cautious with this
functionality: this tweaks the depends line for any including package,
thus usually requiring a version bump, and is in general only required
for very messy cases where several incompatible versions of the same
software coexist as packages with the same stem.
An explicit specification such as "png-1.0.7". may be used to ask for a
more specific version number. Version numbers may also include ranges,
separated by commas, so for instance, "foo->=1.3" would match any foo
with version at least 1.3, and "foo->=1.3,<=1.5" would match any version
of foo between 1.3 and 1.5, inclusive.
As a convenience, the ports tree recognizes a specification that starts
with STEM, and will replace this with the correct stem, which can be
useful for embarrassingly long package names.
As another convenience, the ports tree recognizes constructs like
"graphics/png>=1.2.0" and transforms it into "STEM->=1.2.0:graphics/png".
More specifically, package paths never contain <, >, or =, and those
characters trigger the transform.
If the flavor specification is left blank, any flavor will do. Note that
most default package names don't contain flavor specification, which
means that any flavor will do For instance, in
LIB_DEPENDS = graphics/aalib
both "aalib-1.2" and "aalib-1.2-no_x11" will do. To restrict the
specification to packages that match flavor `f', append `-f'. To
restrict the specification to packages that do not match flavor `f',
append `-!f'. In the preceding case, one may use
LIB_DEPENDS = aalib-*-!no_x11:graphics/aalib
to ensure the no_x11 flavor is not picked.
DEPENDENCIES RESOLUTION
Several packages may be specified for a dependency: "foo-*|bar-*" will
match either any version of package foo, or any version of package bar.
In the general case, each package holds a tree of dependencies.
Resolution occurs at pkg_add(1) time, and all dependencies are tracked
only as far as needed.
For instance, if package "foo-1.0" depends on either "bar-*" or "fuzz-*",
and "bar-2.0" depends on "toughluck-*", pkg_add(1) will first check
whether "bar-*" or "fuzz-*" is installed. If either is there, the
"toughluck-*" dependency will never be examined. It would only be used
in the case where neither "bar-*" nor "fuzz-*" are present, thus
pkg_add(1) would decide to bring in "bar-2.0", and so would check on
"toughluck-*".
SEE ALSOpkg_add(1), bsd.port.mk(5), library-specs(7), packages(7), ports(7)HISTORY
Support for a more complex form of those package specifications first
appeared in OpenBSD 2.9. The current simplified form was introduced in
OpenBSD 4.9.
OpenBSD 4.9 January 13, 2011 OpenBSD 4.9
