newapkbuild(1)

🎀 newapkbuild — generate a new APKBUILD 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to newapkbuild(1), from the General Commands Manual section of your fave Unix docs. this is the little tool that spawns a fresh APKBUILD for you. let's get into it 💅

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

newapkbuild options... [pkgname[-pkgver] | source_url]

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so newapkbuild generates a new APKBUILD for use with abuild(1). that's the whole vibe.

pkgname is where you tell it the package name — unless you already specified the name with -n, in which case you're covered. and if you follow that name with a dash (-) and a valid version string pkgver, you also get to specify the package's version. cute, right? ✨

here's the actually-iconic part: if you give it a source_url, newapkbuild will lowkey try to auto-detect the build system by inspecting the source directory, and then write out typical build instructions for whatever build system it found. main character energy tbh 👑

if you don't specify a source URL, or you wanna override the auto-detection (respect 💅), you can just specify the build system yourself with the appropriate option. and if you specify no source_url and no option at all? then the generated APKBUILD file will not contain any build instructions. none. zero. empty. that's just how it is 🫶

---

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

• -a — says the package uses autotools. that's it, that's the tweet 🐦
• -C — says the package uses CMake. and heads up, CMake gets added to the makedepends.
• -c — makes newapkbuild additionally copy an init.d script, a conf.d file, and sample pre- and post- install scripts into the APKBUILD directory. it's giving "quick start for daemon packages" 💀 and honestly? yes. see the FILES section below for the details.
• -d DESC — sets the description (pkgdesc=) for your new package.
• -e, -y — says the package uses a Python PEP517 build system. Python's gpep517, setuptools and wheel get added to the makedepends. two flags, same slay ✨
• -f — forces newapkbuild to overwrite an existing APKBUILD, if one already exists in the package directory. bold move, bestie 🔥
• -h — displays usage information. the "help me help you" flag 🫶
• -l LICENSE — sets the license under which your new package is distributed. this should match an SPDX Identifier, okurrr 👑
• -m — says the package uses Meson. Meson gets added to the makedepends.
• -n NAME — sets the name of the new package. a new directory called NAME gets created in the current directory, with the APKBUILD file inside it. a whole new home for your package 🏠
• -p — says the package uses a Perl Makefile.PL file. the CPAN template gets used and Perl gets added to the depends.
• -r — says the package uses Cargo. Cargo gets added to the makedepends.
• -s — creates an automatic SourceForge URL for the package based on its name and version. this is only valid if pkgname-pkgver is specified on the command line — no name+version, no dice 🙈
• -u URL — sets the Web page (url=) for the new package. and listen, this should not be the source package URL — it should be the project's main Web page. read that again bestie, it matters 💜

---

🦋 FILES 🦋

all the files generated get placed in a pkgname directory inside the current working directory, and pkgname gets created if it doesn't already exist. lowkey tidy of it ✨

• APKBUILD — newapkbuild will create an APKBUILD with the details gathered from the invocation of newapkbuild, plus introspection of the downloaded package source if source_url is provided. for more info about APKBUILD and its format, see APKBUILD(5).
• pkgname.initd — if -c is given, newapkbuild creates pkgname.initd with example data to assist in the creation of an init.d script for a daemon. a lil starter kit 🎀
• pkgname.confd — if -c is given, newapkbuild creates pkgname.confd to assist in the creation of a conf.d file for a daemon, used by init.d scripts. conf.d files are used to configure init.d scripts; for more info, see openrc(8) and rc_config(3).
• pkgname.pre-install — if -c is given, newapkbuild creates pkgname.pre-install, and the contents of it will be run by apk(8) before the package is installed.
• pkgname.post-install — if -c is given, newapkbuild creates pkgname.post-install, and the contents of it will be run by apk(8) after the package is successfully installed. want more on apk install hooks? go consult the apk(8) manual, iykyk 🫶

---

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

okay here's a full-on example, look at her go:

newapkbuild \
     -n sharutils \
     -d "Utilities for manipulating shell archives" \
     -l "GPL-3.0+" \
     -u "https://www.gnu.org/software/sharutils/" \
     -a \
     "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sharutils/sharutils-4.15.2.tar.xz"

ate. no notes 🔥

---

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

SPDX license reference (on the Web at <https://spdx.org/licenses/>), abuild(1), apk(8), APKBUILD(5).

---

💜 AUTHORS 💜

newapkbuild: Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org>

Documentation: A. Wilcox <wilfox@adelielinux.org>

---

and that's the whole thing bestie, hope this helped 🫶 mwah 💋

this page is from the General Commands Manual, dated 2026-06-05 — screenshot it, cite it, love it 💖