KISS Alternative Package System

This is a package system I am experimenting with. This format is an alternative to the usual PKGBUILD, APKBUILD and Pkgfile systems and explores a more unixy approach.

NOTE: The package manager can be found here: kiss

Each Package is split into multiple files.

zlib/            # Package name.
├─ build         # Build script.
├─ depends       # Dependencies (one per line) (sometimes optional).
├─ sources       # Sources (one per line).
├─ version       # Package version.
┘

# Files generated by the package manager.
├─ manifest      # The built package's files and directories.
├─ checksums     # The checksums for the source files.
┘

# Optional files.
├─ post_install  # Script to run after package installation.
├─ patches/*     # Directory to store patches.
├─ files/*       # Directory to misc files.
├─ nostrip       # Don't strip binaries for this package (empty file).
┘

When a built package is installed, this entire directory tree is copied to /var/db/kiss where it becomes a database entry. Listing the dependencies for a package is a simple as printing the contents of the depends file. Searching for which package owns a file is as simple as checking each manifest file.

This new structure also allows the package manager to be stupid simple. POSIX sh has no arrays. However, they are mimicked by looping over each line of each file. No more insecure depends="pkg pkg pkg" and for pkg in $depends.

Instead, the following can be done.

while read -r depend; do
    # do thing.
done < depends

This also means anyone can write a tool to manipulate the repository or even their own package manager. It's all plain text files delimited by a new line or a space.

Table of Contents

• The package format
  • build
  • manifest
  • sources
  • depends
  • version
  • checksums
  • post-install

The package format

build

The build file should contain the necessary steps to patch, configure, build and install the package. The build script is sent a single argument. This argument points to the package directory. Whatever is in this directory will become part of the package's manifest and will be copied to / (or $kiss_ROOT). The first argument is frequently used in make DESTDIR="$1" install for example.

The build file can be written in any language. The only requirement is that the file be executable.

./configure \
    --prefix=/usr \
    --libdir=/lib \
    --shared

make
make DESTDIR="$1" install

manifest

The manifest file contains the built package's file and directory list. The full paths to files are listed first and the directories (in reverse) follow. This allows the package manager to remove the directories if they are empty without needing checks in-between.

The manifest also includes the package's database entry. You can install the package with or without kiss and it will be recognized.

/usr/share/man/man3/zlib.3
/usr/include/zconf.h
/usr/include/zlib.h
/var/db/kiss/zlib/sources
/var/db/kiss/zlib/manifest
/var/db/kiss/zlib/checksums
/var/db/kiss/zlib/build
/var/db/kiss/zlib/version
/lib/libz.so.1.2.11
/lib/libz.so.1
/lib/libz.so
/lib/libz.a
/lib/pkgconfig/zlib.pc
/var/db/kiss/zlib
/var/db/kiss
/var/db
/var
/usr/share/man/man3
/usr/share/man
/usr/share
/usr/include
/usr
/lib/pkgconfig
/lib

sources

The sources file contains the package's sources one per line. Sources can be local or remote.

An optional destination field can be added to tell the package manager where to extract the source. This is relative to the regular extraction directory. The passed directories are also created.

https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-X.X.X.tar.gz
patches/fix-musl.patch
https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-X.X.X.tar.gz lib/example/
git:https://github.com/dylanaraps/neofetch

depends

The depends file contains the package's dependencies one per line. An optional field can be added to specify whether a dependency is needed at compile time. This may later be extended to allow for optional runtime dependencies.

NOTE: A dependency without a secondary field is assumed to be a runtime dependency.

zlib     make
binutils make
openssl

version

The version file contains the package's version as well as its release number. The format of this file is version release. The release portion allows a package upgrade without the modification of the version number.

The version can also be git 1 to specify that the package is built from the latest git head.

1.2.11 1

checksums

The checksums file contains the sha256 sums of each entry in the sources file. This is generated and verified automatically.

c3e5e9fdd5004dcb542feda5ee4f0ff0744628baf8ed2dd5d66f8ca1197cb1a1  zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

post-install

The post-install file should contain any steps required directly after the package is installed. This includes updating font databases and creating any post-install symlinks which may be required.