PKG-SCRIPT(5)

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so this is PKG-SCRIPT(5) straight out of the File Formats Manual, and it's all about shell scripts — literally shell scripts that are run by pkg(8). bestie, that's the whole name section, and it ate. 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so pkg(8) may run scripts at given phases of the process it is executing. The phases are the following, and yes, they all matter:

• pre-install — run before installing the files on the system. 🎀
• post-install — run after installing the files on the system. ✨
• pre-deinstall — run before removing the files on the system. 🦋
• post-deinstall — run after removing the files on the system. 🌸

In the particular case of an upgrade the scripts are run in the following order:

1. new pre-install
2. old pre-deinstall
3. replace binaries
4. new post-install

that's the upgrade choreography, bestie — no cap, that's the order. 💜

🦋 Environment 🦋

The following environment variables are exported to be used by the script. these are the little exported besties your script gets to work with: 🫶

• PKG_NAME — Represents the name of the package. iykyk, it's the package's whole identity. ✨
• PKG_PREFIX — PREFIX defined within the package at build time. iconic build-time info. 🎀
• PKG_ROOTDIR — represents the root directory where the package will be installed as specified by the -r arguments passed to pkg(8). 🌈
• PKG_METALOG — When set, provides the path to a mtree(5) METALOG file in which package file metadata (e.g., ownership, mode) should be recorded. This is typically used when installing packages as a non-root user. literally the metadata moment. ⭐
• PKG_MSGFD — Number of a file descriptor to be used to be able to send messages to the user that will be shown at the end of the pkg(8) process. 💌
• PKG_CHROOTED — Set to “true” when pkg(8) is operating inside a chroot via -c. chroot era, iykyk. 🔥
• PKG_UPGRADE — This variable is set when a script is run in the context of an upgrade of a package. upgrade vibes detected. 💀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

bestie, the guest list is LONG and every single one made the cut: 💖

• pkg_create(3)
• pkg_printf(3)
• pkg_repo_create(3)
• pkg_repos(3)
• pkg-keywords(5)
• pkg-lua-script(5)
• pkg-repository(5)
• pkg-triggers(5)
• pkg.conf(5)
• pkg(8)
• pkg-add(8)
• pkg-alias(8)
• pkg-annotate(8)
• pkg-audit(8)
• pkg-autoremove(8)
• pkg-check(8)
• pkg-clean(8)
• pkg-config(8)
• pkg-create(8)
• pkg-delete(8)
• pkg-fetch(8)
• pkg-help(8)
• pkg-info(8)
• pkg-install(8)
• pkg-key(8)
• pkg-lock(8)
• pkg-plugins(8)
• pkg-query(8)
• pkg-register(8)
• pkg-repo(8)
• pkg-repositories(8)
• pkg-rquery(8)
• pkg-search(8)
• pkg-set(8)
• pkg-shell(8)
• pkg-shlib(8)
• pkg-ssh(8)
• pkg-stats(8)
• pkg-triggers(8)
• pkg-unregister(8)
• pkg-update(8)
• pkg-updating(8)
• pkg-upgrade(8)
• pkg-version(8)
• pkg-which(8)

💖 okay bestie, that's the whole PKG-SCRIPT(5) page. footer energy: Debian, December 12, 2025, PKG-SCRIPT(5) — and that's officially a wrap. periodt. 🎀