Difference between revisions of "Meta Package Manager"

Revision as of 11:36, 15 June 2012

pc-metapkgmanager is the back-end command line utility used by the PC-BSD installer, System Manager, Update Manager, and Warden® to manage meta-packages. Meta-packages are like system components and include supported and unsupported desktops, development utilities, hardware drivers, and miscellaneous applications such as MythTV or XBMC.

Beginning with version 9.1, PC-BSD uses metapkgsets to determine which system components are available and which applications are installed with each system component. Currently, two metapkgsets are defined: "pcbsd" which defines the available desktop components, and "warden" which defines the components available when creating a jail with Warden® or installing a PC-BSD server. You can view the contents of these metapkgsets here.

The pc-metapkgmanager command can be used at the command line to install or delete meta-packages, update to the latest package set, or to change the default metapkgset. If you type the command without any options, it will display its usage:

pc-metapkgmanager
usage: pc-metapkgmanager [options]
Options:
 add pkg1,pkg2 <loc>	 -- Add the specified list of meta-packages 
                           <loc> should be a FTP / HTTP url where pkg_add 
                           can fetch packages, or an absolute path to 
                           location of pkg files on disk.
 checkup		 -- Check for updates to pkgs
 del pkg1,pkg2	  	 -- Delete the specified list of meta-packages
 list     	         -- List the available meta-packages
 status <pkg>    	 -- List the status of the specified meta-packages
 update pkg,pkg2 <loc>  -- Update system packages. Can use 'all' or <pkg,pkg2>.
                           <loc> should be a FTP / HTTP url where pkg_add 
                           can fetch packages, or an absolute path to 
                           location of pkg files on disk.
 --pkgset <pkgset>	 -- Change default pkgset we are using
 --chroot <dir>	 -- Operate on the directory specified using chroot

To determine which meta-packages are available:

pc-metapkgmanager list |more
Meta Package: Awesome
-------------------------------------
Description: A highly configurable, next generation framework window manager
Icon: /var/db/pc-metapkgmanager/pkgsets/pcbsd/Awesome/pkg-icon.png
Parent: Unsupported-Desktops
Desktop: YES
Required Packages:
awesome-3.4.11_1 
Meta Package: Compiz
-------------------------------------
Description: Compiz - OpenGL compositing manager
Icon: /var/db/pc-metapkgmanager/pkgsets/pcbsd/Compiz/pkg-icon.png
Parent: Misc
Desktop: NO 
Required Packages:
compiz-fusion-0.8.4_2
Meta Package: Desktops
-------------------------------------
Description: Supported Desktop Environments for your PC-BSD system. 
Icon: /var/db/pc-metapkgmanager/pkgsets/pcbsd/Desktops/pkg-icon.png
Desktop: NO 
Category Entry 
Meta Package: Development
-------------------------------------
Description: Development tools and utilities for your Desktop
--More--(byte 885)

To determine if a meta-package is installed:

pc-metapkgmanager status Awesome
The meta-pkg Awesome is not installed

To install the meta-package, specify the meta-package name shown in the above list and provide the URL to the meta-package location for you architecture. The following example installas the Awesome meta-package on a 64-bit system. Only the superuser can install meta-packages.

pc-metapkgmanager add Awesome ftp://mirrors.isc.org/pub/pcbsd/9-STABLE-20120605/amd64/netinstall/metapackages/pcbsd/All/   URL WILL CHANGE FOR RELEASE
Pending Meta-Package changes: 1
Installing Meta-Package: Awesome
Pending package changes: 1
Installing package: awesome-3.4.11_1
The meta-pkg Awesome is installed
Finished Meta-Package: Awesome
Meta-Package changes finished!

Configuration

The default pkgset can be changed by editing /usr/local/etc/pcbsd.conf and editing the PCBSD_METAPKGSET variable.

Examples

pc-metapkgmanager del LXDE,GNOME

Only remove metapkgmanager log if over 5MB