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Working with Packages

Unlike other operating systems, SmartOS is distributed as a single (mostly) read-only image with no packaging system to allow for installation of additional software packages. To fill this void we leverage The NetBSD Packages Collection, also known as "pkgsrc".

pkgsrc is a cross-platform framework for building software from source and distributing binary packages. Each "package" consists of a Makefile and several metadata files which specify how to build the software (as an example, look at the tmux package). The flexibility of this framework allows for easy porting of software en mass for OS's like ours without reinventing the wheel as well as allowing us to participate in and contribute to the larger pkgsrc community at large.

pkgsrc is not present by default in the SmartOS global zone but can be easily installed using a bootstrap. Please refer to Installing pkgsrc-tools.

In SmartOS Zones, however, pkgsrc takes center stage by providing all the software you require from compilers to web servers to editors.

The pkgin utility is the typical way to manage packages. Use pkgin av to list the available packages for installation. Use pkgin ls to view already installed packages. Use pkgin in somepackage to install a package. All software will be installed under /opt/local and should therefore be included in your path.

Using pkgin

This table lists common pkgin commands.

Command	Description
pkgin up	Updates the pkgin database. You should run this command before installing any new packages just in case.
pkgin ls	Lists all the installed packages
pkgin av	Lists all of the available packages
pkgin in	Installs a package
pkgin rm	Removes a package
pkgin se	Searches for a package
pkgin	With no additional arguments, lists all of the available pkgin commands.

For example, to install tidy, you run this:

sudo pkgin update
sudo pkgin in tidy

Directory Paths used by pkgsrc

The pkgsrc utility installs files into /opt/local (or /opt/tools in the global zone). Under this root, pkgsrc uses a fairly standard filesystem heirarchy layout (e.g., bin, lib, etc, etc.).

Directory	Description
/opt/local (/opt/tools in gz)	This is where pkgsrc installs software including binaries, libraries, configuration files, supporting files, examples, documentation etc.
/opt/local/etc (/opt/tools/etc in gz)	Contains configuration files.
/opt/local/share/examples (/opt/tools/share/examples in gz)	Example configuration files. When you add a new package, pkg src installs sample configuration f iles here, and then copies them to /opt/local/etc if they do not already exist.
/var/db/pkg (/opt/tools/var/db in gz)	This directory contains two directories that contain the database of installed and avail able packages. If you delete or damage these directories, you will not be able to use the pkgsrc management tools.

As noted in the table above, pkgsrc copies configuration files into /opt/local/etc only if they do not already exist. That means that you will not lose any custom configurations when you update, remove, or reinstall a pacakage. If you break your configuration file, you can always get a clean one from /opt/local/share/examples.