PACKAGE MANAGER

In Alice, theres two package manager used, spm and autils. Why two package manager? spm was written for generic package manager for linux distribution. And autils is written specifically for Alice and required spm.

spm

spm stands for simple package manager. It does simple and minimal written in POSIX compliance shell script. It only depends on core utils and tar (or busybox’s utils and tar). spm only intended for compressing some directory into package, then extract package into system with files being tracked into database. Theres is no build script, recipe or ports in spm. You can write your own tools to use with spm either like Arch Linux’s makepkg, CRUX’s pkgmk or Slackware’s slackbuild script.

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 install package 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 to spm command, 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 utilitis. autils contains main package manager (apkg), utilities (apkg-) and . autils is specifically written to manage Alice packages.

apkg

apkg is a main package manager that can solve dependencies, batch install/upgrade/remove packages, system upgrades, trigger necessary caches, and etc. apkg can be run inside or outside package template.

When running outside package template, apkg will need ‘package names’ as arguments, and those ‘package names’ will search through APKG_REPO environment. 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 package template, apkg will do operation for current directory 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 details on every each options here, but I will give quick tips/tricks to use apkg

installing 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 package with ‘sway’ name and its 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 package without solving dependencies (mind the lowercase i and theres 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 filter (will only print installed package contains 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 packages

# 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 upgrades (mind uppercase u and will prompt first if theres 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 full system rebuild in dependencies order (-f: force rebuild, -u: upgrade/reinstall, -D: solve dependency order, -a: list all installed package)

# apkg -f -u $(apkg -D $(apkg -a))
...
(start rebuilding package 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 to apkg to override defaults and in /etc/apkg.conf. Available environment and its default value 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 into apkg config file.

apkg - config file

apkg can work without its config file by using all default value. Default config path for apkg is /etc/apkg.conf. You can change config path by append APKG_CONF to apkg, example:

# APKG_CONF=/etc/apkg-local.conf apkg <args>

revdep

revdep is script to find broken packages. Its recomended to run after packages is removed or upgraded.

Usage:

(print out broken packages)
$ revdep

(verbosely print missing libraries)
$ revdep -v

You can combine with apkg to rebuild broken packages, example;

# apkg -f -u $(revdep)

NOTE: revdep does not solve dependencies, so you might need manually rebuild broken packages instead combine with apkg.

updateconf

updateconf is script to update configuration files inside /etc directory. Its recomended to run after packages upgrades.

apkg-chroot

Script to entering chroot environment of 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 installed package. Its good to use when writing package template.

Usage:

$ apkg-deps <pkg>

apkg-foreign

Script to list installed package outside package repo.

Usage:

(print list foreign packages)
$ apkg-foreign

(remove foreign packages)
# apkg -r $(apkg-foreign)

apkg-orphan

Script to print list package without parent dependencies.

Usage:

$ apkg-orphan

apkg-redundantdeps

Script to print package’s redundant dependencies. Its good to use when writing package template for minimizing dependencies and speed up apkg dependencies solving.

usage:

(print package contains redundant dependencies)
$ apkg-redundantdeps

(remove redundant dependencies for depends list)
$ apkg-redundantdeps -f

AliceLinux AliceLinux's (un)official documentation and devblog

packagemanager.md

PACKAGE MANAGER

spm

spm - usage

spm - environment

autils

apkg

apkg - usage

apkg - environment

apkg - config file

revdep

updateconf

apkg-chroot

apkg-clean

apkg-deps

apkg-foreign

apkg-orphan

apkg-redundantdeps