Package Manager
In Alice, there are two package managers used: spm and autils. Why two package managers? spm was written as a generic package manager for Linux distributions. autils is written specifically for Alice and requires spm.
spm
spm stands for simple package manager. It is simple and minimal, written in POSIX-compliant shell script. It only depends on core utils and tar (or busybox’s utils and tar). spm is intended for compressing a directory into a package and then extracting the package into the system with files being tracked into a database. There is no build script, recipe, or ports in spm. You can write your own tools to use with spm, similar to Arch Linux’s makepkg, CRUX’s pkgmk, or Slackware’s slackbuild script.
spm - usage
List spm usage:
-a print all installed packages
-b <path> build <path> directory into package
-h print this help message
-i <file> install <file> package into system
-l <pkg> list files installed by <pkg>
-o <file> print owner of <file>
-r <name> remove installed <name> from system
-u <pkg> re-install/upgrade <pkg>
List all installed packages with version:
$ spm -a
...
neofetch 7.1.0-1
nettle 3.10-1
nghttp2 1.62.1-1
ninja 1.12.1-1
nodejs 22.5.1-1
nspr 4.35-1
nss 3.102.1-1
nsxiv 32-1
...
Build package from directory:
# (build package)
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr
$ make
# (install into fake directory)
$ make DESTDIR=$PWD/fakeroot install
# (turn fake directory into package (package.spm))
# spm -b $PWD/fakeroot
# (mv 'package.spm' into correct format (name#version-release.spm))
# mv package.spm pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
# (install package into system)
# spm -i pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
Install package into system:
# spm -i pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
[pkgname] Verify package...
[pkgname] Checking for conflicts...
[pkgname] Installing package...
[pkgname] Package 'pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease' installed.
List files installed by ‘packagename’:
$ spm -l test
usr/
usr/share/
usr/share/aaa
usr/bin/
usr/bin/aaa
List package owner of a file (can use regex):
$ spm -o gcc$
ccache usr/lib/ccache/gcc
gcc usr/bin/gcc
gcc usr/bin/x86_64-pc-linux-musl-gcc
linux lib/modules/6.6.41-Alice/build/scripts/dummy-tools/gcc
Upgrade/reinstall installed package:
# spm -u pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
[pkgname] Verify package...
[pkgname] Checking for conflicts...
[pkgname] Upgrading package...
[pkgname] Package 'pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease' upgraded.
spm - environment
| env | description |
|---|---|
| SPM_ROOT | use custom root location for package installation |
| SPM_FORCEINSTALL | set any value to ignore conflicted files |
You can pass these environment variables to the spm command, for example:
# SPM_ROOT=/mnt/rootfs spm -i pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
# SPM_FORCEINSTALL=1 SPM_ROOT=/mnt/rootfs spm -i pkgname#pkgversion-pkgrelease.spm
autils
autils stands for alice utilities. autils contains the main package manager (apkg), utilities (apkg-autils is specifically written to manage Alice packages.
apkg
apkg is the main package manager that can solve dependencies, batch install/upgrade/remove packages, perform system upgrades, trigger necessary caches, and more. apkg can be run inside or outside a package template.
When running outside a package template, apkg will need ‘package names’ as arguments, and those ‘package names’ will be searched through the APKG_REPO environment variable. Example:
# apkg testpkg testpkg2 (build testpkg and testpkg2)
# apkg testpkg testpkg2 -i (build and install testpkg and testpkg2)
# apkg -u testpkg testpkg2 (upgrade/reinstall testpkg and testpkg2)
# apkg -f -u testpkg testpkg2 (force rebuild then upgrade/reinstall testpkg and testpkg2)
When running inside a package template, apkg will perform the operation for the current directory’s package. Example:
# cd /path/to/local/testpkg
# apkg (build testpkg)
# apkg -i (build and install testpkg)
# apkg -u (upgrade/reinstall testpkg)
# apkg -u -f (force rebuild then upgrade/reinstall testpkg)
apkg - usage
-i <pkg(s)> install package(s)
-I <pkg(s)> install packages(s) with dependencies
-d <pkg> list <pkg> dependencies
-D <pkg(s)> list all dependencies
-j <pkg> list all dependents
-u <pkg(s)> upgrade package(s)
-t [pkg(s)] trigger system cache/db updates
-U update system
-f force rebuild
-o <pkg(s)> download source
-p <pkg> print package path
-s <pattern> search packages
-h print this help message
I won’t explain the details of every option here, but I will give some quick tips/tricks to use apkg.
Install a package and its dependencies (mind the uppercase I):
# apkg -I sway
[...] Solving dependencies...
[...] Installing 3 package(s): mesa pango sway
[...] Press ENTER to continue operation.
[...] Press Ctrl + C to abort.
Search available packages:
$ apkg -s sway
swaybg
swaylock
sway
swayidle
swayfx
Install all packages with ‘sway’ in their name and their dependencies:
# apkg -I $(apkg -s sway)
...
[...] Package 'mesa' is installed
[...] Package 'swaybg' is installed
[...] Package 'swaylock' is installed
[...] Package 'swayidle' is installed
[...] Package 'swayfx' is installed
[...] Solving dependencies...
[...] Installing 2 package(s): pango sway
[...] Press ENTER to continue operation.
[...] Press Ctrl + C to abort.
Install a package without solving dependencies (mind the lowercase i and there is no prompt for this option):
# apkg -i wlroots mesa
[...] Package 'wlroots' already installed.
[...] Package 'mesa' already installed.
List all installed packages:
$ apkg -a
...
qemu
ranger
rdfind
readline
rsync
rtorrent
rust
...
List all installed packages with a filter (will only print installed packages containing the word filter):
$ apkg -a sway
swaybg
swayfx
swayidle
swaylock
List dependencies of a package:
$ apkg -d sway
wlroots
json-c
pango
List all dependencies tree of package(s):
$ apkg -D sway dwm
...
wayland
wayland-protocols
xkeyboard-config
xcb-proto
xorgproto
util-macros
...
Upgrade/reinstall package(s):
# apkg -u wlroots cwm pango
[wlroots] Verify package...
[wlroots] Checking for conflicts...
[wlroots] Upgrading package...
[wlroots] Package 'wlroots#0.17.4-1' upgraded.
[cwm] Verify package...
[cwm] Checking for conflicts...
[cwm] Upgrading package...
[cwm] Package 'cwm#7.4-1' upgraded.
[pango] Verify package...
[pango] Checking for conflicts...
[pango] Upgrading package...
[pango] Package 'pango#1.54.0-1' upgraded.
Full system upgrade (mind uppercase U and will prompt first if there are package updates):
# apkg -U
[...] Checking for outdated packages...
[...] Solving dependencies...
[...] Upgrading 3 package(s): initscripts mesa sowm
[...] Press ENTER to continue operation.
[...] Press Ctrl + C to abort.
Make a full system rebuild in dependencies order (-f: force rebuild, -u: upgrade/reinstall, -D: solve dependency order, -a: list all installed package(s)):
# apkg -f -u $(apkg -D $(apkg -a))
...
(start rebuilding packages in dependencies order here)
...
Remove installed packages:
# apkg -r wlroots pango sway
[...] Package 'wlroots' removed.
[...] Package 'pango' removed.
[...] Package 'sway' removed.
Print package path:
$ apkg -p sway
/home/emmett/codeberg/alicelinux/repos/wayland/sway
apkg - environment
You can pass environment variables to apkg to override defaults and in /etc/apkg.conf. Available environment variables and their default values are as follows:
| env | default value | description |
|---|---|---|
| APKG_ROOT | / | root for package installation |
| APKG_CONF | /etc/apkg.conf | apkg’s config file |
| APKG_REPO | defaults is empty, template repo path, space separated variable | |
| APKG_PACKAGE_DIR | $PWD | prebuilt package directory path |
| APKG_SOURCE_DIR | $PWD | package source directory path |
| APKG_WORK_DIR | $PWD | package working directory path |
| APKG_NOPROMPT | skip prompt, use any value |
You can add these environment variables into the apkg config file.
/etc/apkg.conf
apkg can work without its config file by using all default values. The default config path for apkg is /etc/apkg.conf. You can override the config path by appending APKG_CONF to apkg, for example:
# APKG_CONF=/etc/apkg-local.conf apkg <args>
revdep
revdep is a script to find broken packages. It is recommended to run it after packages are removed or upgraded.
Usage:
# (print out broken packages)
$ revdep
# (verbosely print missing libraries)
$ revdep -v
You can combine it with apkg to rebuild broken packages, for example:
# apkg -f -u $(revdep)
NOTE:
revdepdoes not solve dependencies, so you might need to manually rebuild broken packages instead of combining it withapkg.
updateconf
updateconf is a script to update configuration files inside the /etc directory. It is recommended to run it after package upgrades.
apkg-chroot
Script to enter the chroot environment of a custom root location.
# apkg-chroot <customroot path>
# apkg-chroot <customroot path> <command>
apkg-clean
Print out old package and source caches.
Options:
-s print sources only
-p print packages only
Usage:
# (to remove old packages)
# apkg-clean -p | xargs rm
# (to remove old sources)
# apkg-clean -s | xargs rm
# (to remove both old packages and sources)
# apkg-clean | xargs rm
apkg-deps
Script to find runtime linked dependencies of an installed package. It is good for figuring out dependencies when writing a package template.
Usage:
$ apkg-deps <pkg>
apkg-foreign
Script to list installed packages outside the package repo.
Usage:
# (print list of foreign packages)
$ apkg-foreign
# (remove foreign packages)
# apkg -r $(apkg-foreign)
apkg-orphan
Script to print a list of packages without parent dependencies.
Usage:
$ apkg-orphan
apkg-redundantdeps
Script to print a package’s redundant dependencies. It is good to use when writing a package template for minimizing dependencies and speeding up apkg dependencies solving.
Usage:
# (print packages containing redundant dependencies)
$ apkg-redundantdeps
# (remove redundant dependencies for depends list)
$ apkg-redundantdeps -f