Arch Linux Packaging
Arch Linux
Arch Linux encourages and empowers users to create their own software packages.
The package manager pacman is designed to mix and match official binary packages with unofficial, locally compiled packages.
- Packages are never split between software and development headers.
- Build options and flags are coordinated through system configuration packages.
- Tools for isolated build processes are well tested and documented.
PKGBUILD
A PKGBUILD is a shell script to build a software package installable by pacman(8). The shell script is called by the makepkg(8) utility.
A PKGBUILD...
mandatorily defines the pkgname, pkgver, pkgrel, and arch variables
- defines dependencies as an array variable, wherein each element is a package name with versioning constraints
try: depends=('foobar>=1.8.0' 'foobar<2.0.0')
defines well-known functions that will be called by makepkg(8)
prepare applies patches to the source code
build calls the build pipeline, including any configuration steps
check calls the test suite
package creates the package
It's also possible to specify build-time dependencies with the makedepends variable (same format as depends), test suite dependencies with the checkdepends variables (again, same format), and optional (feature gate) dependencies with the optdepends variable (try: optdepends=('cups: printing support')).
If a package provides software that may be depended upon by other packages, set the provides array variable accordingly. Try: provides=('foobar=1.2.3').