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pkg_delete(1)

NAME

     pkg_delete -- a utility for deleting previously installed software pack-
     age distributions

SYNOPSIS

     pkg_delete [-dDfGinrvxX] [-p prefix] pkg-name ...
     pkg_delete -a [flags]

DESCRIPTION

     The pkg_delete command is used to delete packages that have been previ-
     ously installed with the pkg_add(1) command.

WARNING

     Since the pkg_delete command may execute scripts or programs provided by
     a package file, your system may be susceptible to ``trojan horses'' or
     other subtle attacks from miscreants who create dangerous package files.

     You are advised to verify the competence and identity of those who pro-
     vide installable package files.  For extra protection, examine all the
     package control files in the package record directory
     (/var/db/pkg/<pkg-name>/).  Pay particular attention to any +INSTALL,
     +POST-INSTALL, +DEINSTALL, +POST-DEINSTALL, +REQUIRE or +MTREE_DIRS
     files, and inspect the +CONTENTS file for @cwd, @mode (check for setuid),
     @dirrm, @exec, and @unexec directives, and/or use the pkg_info(1) command
     to examine the installed package control files.

OPTIONS

     The following command line options are supported:

     pkg-name ...
	     The named packages are deinstalled.

     -a      Unconditionally delete all currently installed packages.

     -i      Request confirmation before attempting to delete each package,
	     regardless whether or not the standard input device is a termi-
	     nal.

     -v      Turn on verbose output.

     -D      If a deinstallation script exists for a given package, do not
	     execute it.

     -n      Don't actually deinstall a package, just report the steps that
	     would be taken if it were.

     -p prefix
	     Set prefix as the directory in which to delete files from any
	     installed packages which do not explicitly set theirs.  For most
	     packages, the prefix will be set automatically to the installed
	     location by pkg_add(1).

     -d      Remove empty directories created by file cleanup.	By default,
	     only files/directories explicitly listed in a package's contents
	     (either as normal files/directories or with the @dirrm directive)
	     will be removed at deinstallation time.  This option tells
	     pkg_delete to also remove any directories that were emptied as a

     -x      Treat the pkg-name as a regular expression and delete all pack-
	     ages whose names match that regular expression.  Multiple regular
	     expressions could be provided, in that case pkg_delete deletes
	     all packages that match at least one regular expression from the
	     list.

     -X      Like -x, but treats the pkg-name as an extended regular expres-
	     sion.

     -r      Recursive removal.  In addition to specified packages, delete all
	     packages that depend on those packages as well.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

     The pkg_delete utility does pretty much what it says.  It examines
     installed package records in /var/db/pkg/<pkg-name>, deletes the package
     contents, and finally removes the package records.  If the environment
     variable PKG_DBDIR is set, this overrides the /var/db/pkg/ path shown
     above.

     If a package is required by other installed packages, pkg_delete will
     list those dependent packages and refuse to delete the package (unless
     the -f option is given).

     If the package contains a require file (see pkg_create(1)), then this is
     executed first as
	   require <pkg-name> DEINSTALL
     (where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and DEINSTALL is a
     keyword denoting that this is a deinstallation) to see whether or not
     deinstallation should continue.  A non-zero exit status means no, unless
     the -f option is specified.

     If a deinstall script exists for the package, it is executed before any
     files are removed.  It is this script's responsibility to clean up any
     additional messy details around the package's installation, since all
     pkg_delete knows how to do is delete the files created in the original
     distribution.  The deinstall script is called as:
	   script <pkg-name> DEINSTALL
     where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and DEINSTALL is a
     keyword denoting this as the pre-deinstallation phase.

     Note: The DEINSTALL keyword will not appear if separate scripts for dein-
     stall and post-deinstall are given during package creation time (using
     the -k and -K flags to pkg_create(1)).

     If a post-deinstall script exists for the package, it is executed after
     all files are removed.  It is this script's responsibility to clean up
     any additional messy details around the package's installation, and leave
     the system (hopefully) in the same state that it was prior to the instal-
     lation of the package.

     The post-deinstall script is called as:
	   script <pkg-name> POST-DEINSTALL
     where pkg-name is the name of the package in question and POST-DEINSTALL
     is a keyword denoting this as the post-deinstallation phase.

     Note: The POST-DEINSTALL keyword will not appear if separate scripts for
     deinstall and post-deinstall are given during package creation time
     aspect of installation and deinstallation.

     All scripts are called with the environment variable PKG_PREFIX set to
     the installation prefix (see the -p option above).  This allows a package
     author to write a script that reliably performs some action on the direc-
     tory where the package is installed, even if the user might have changed
     it by specifying the -p option when running pkg_delete or pkg_add.

ENVIRONMENT

     The environment variable PKG_DBDIR specifies an alternative location for
     the installed package database.

FILES

     /var/db/pkg  Default location of the installed package database.

SEE ALSO

     pkg_add(1), pkg_create(1), pkg_info(1), pkg_version(1), mktemp(3),
     mtree(8)

AUTHORS

     Jordan Hubbard

CONTRIBUTORS

     John Kohl <jtk@rational.com>, Oliver Eikemeier <eik@FreeBSD.org>

BUGS

     Sure to be some.

FreeBSD 5.4			 June 29, 2004			   FreeBSD 5.4

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