Haiku Package File Format

This document specifies the Haiku Package (HPKG) file format, which was designed for efficient use by Haiku’s package file system. It is somewhat inspired by the XAR format (separate TOC and data heap), but aims for greater compactness (no XML for the TOC).

Three stacked format layers can be identified:

The Data Container Format

A HPKG file consists of four sections:

Header

Identifies the file as HPKG file and provides access to the other sections.

Heap

Contains arbitrary (mostly unstructured) data referenced by the next two sections.

TOC (table of contents)

The main section, containing structured data with references to unstructured data in the heap section.

Package Attributes

A section similar to the TOC. Rather than describing the data contained in the file, it specifies meta data of the package as a whole.

The TOC and Package Attributes sections aren’t really separate sections, as they are stored at the end of the heap.

All numbers in the HPKG are stored in big endian format or LEB128 encoding.

Heap

The heap provides storage for arbitrary data. Data from various sources are concatenated without padding or separator, forming the uncompressed heap. A specific section of data is usually referenced (e.g. in the TOC and attributes sections) by an offset and the number of bytes. These references always point into the uncompressed heap, even if the heap is actually stored in a compressed format. The heap_compression field in the header specifies which format is used. The following values are defined:

0

B_HPKG_COMPRESSION_NONE

no compression

1

B_HPKG_COMPRESSION_ZLIB

zlib (LZ77) compression

The uncompressed heap data are divided into equally sized chunks (64 KiB). The last chunk in the heap may have a different uncompressed length from the preceding chunks. The uncompressed length of the last chunk can be derived. Each individual chunk may be stored compressed or not.

Unless B_HPKG_COMPRESSION_NONE is specified, a uint16 array at the end of the heap contains the actual in-file (compressed) size of each chunk (minus 1 – 0 means 1 byte), save for the last one, which is omitted since it is implied. A chunk is only stored compressed, if compression actually saves space. That is if the chunk’s compressed size equals its uncompressed size, the data aren’t compressed. If B_HPKG_COMPRESSION_NONE is specified, the chunk size table is omitted entirely.

The TOC and the package attributes sections are stored (in this order) at the end of the uncompressed heap. The offset of the package attributes section data is therefore heap_size_uncompressed - attributes_length and the offset of the TOC section data heap_size_uncompressed - attributes_length - toc_length.

TOC

The TOC section contains a list of attribute trees. An attribute has an ID, a data type, and a value, and can have child attributes. E.g.:

  • ATTRIBUTE_ID_SHOPPING_LIST : string : “bakery”

    • ATTRIBUTE_ID_ITEM : string : “rye bread”

    • ATTRIBUTE_ID_ITEM : string : “bread roll”

      • ATTRIBUTE_ID_COUNT : int : 10

    • ATTRIBUTE_ID_ITEM : string : “cookie”

      • ATTRIBUTE_ID_COUNT : int : 5

  • ATTRIBUTE_ID_SHOPPING_LIST : string : “hardware store”

    • ATTRIBUTE_ID_ITEM : string : “hammer”

    • ATTRIBUTE_ID_ITEM : string : “nail”

      • ATTRIBUTE_ID_SIZE : int : 10

      • ATTRIBUTE_ID_COUNT : int : 100

The main TOC section refers to any attribute by its unique ID (see below) and stores the attribute’s value, either as a reference into the heap or as inline data.

An optimization exists for shared string attribute values. A string value used by more than one attribute is stored in the strings subsection and is referenced by an index.

Hence the TOC section consists of two subsections:

Strings

A table of commonly used strings.

Main TOC

The attribute trees.

Attribute Data Types

These are the specified data type values for attributes:

0

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_INVALID

invalid

1

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_INT

signed integer

2

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_UINT

unsigned integer

3

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_STRING

UTF-8 string

4

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_RAW

raw data

Strings

The strings subsections consists of a list of null-terminated UTF-8 strings. The section itself is terminated by a 0 byte.

Each string is implicitly assigned the (null-based) index at which it appears in the list, i.e. the nth string has the index n - 1. The string is referenced by this index in the main TOC subsection.

Main TOC

The main TOC subsection consists of a list of attribute entries terminated by a 0 byte. An attribute entry is stored as:

Attribute tag

An unsigned LEB128 encoded number.

Attribute value

The value of the attribute encoded as described below.

Attribute child list

Only if this attribute is marked to have children: A list of attribute entries terminated by a 0 byte.

The attribute tag encodes four pieces of information:

(encoding << 11) + (hasChildren << 10) + (dataType << 7) + id + 1
encoding

Specifies the encoding of the attribute value as described below.

hasChildren

1, if the attribute has children, 0 otherwise.

dataType

The data type of the attribute (B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_…).

id

The ID of the attribute (B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_…).

Attribute Values

A value of each of the data types can be encoded in different ways, which is defined by the encoding value:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_INT and B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_UINT:

    0

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_INT_8_BIT

    int8/uint8

    1

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_INT_16_BIT

    int16/uint16

    2

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_INT_32_BIT

    int32/uint32

    3

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_INT_64_BIT

    int64/uint64

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_STRING:

    0

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_STRING_INLINE

    null-terminated UTF-8 string

    1

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_STRING_TABLE

    unsigned LEB128: index into string table

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_RAW:

    0

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_RAW_INLINE

    unsigned LEB128: size; followed by raw bytes

    1

    B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ENCODING_RAW_HEAP

    unsigned LEB128: size; unsigned LEB128: offset into the uncompressed heap

Package Attributes

The package attributes section contains a list of attribute trees, just like the TOC section. The structure of this section follows the TOC, i.e. there’s a subsection for shared strings and a subsection that stores a list of attribute entries terminated by a 0 byte. An entry has the same format as the ones in the TOC (only using different attribute IDs).

The Archive Format

This section specifies how file system objects (files, directories, symlinks) are stored in a HPKG file. It builds on top of the container format, defining the types of attributes, their order, and allowed values.

E.g. a “bin” directory, containing a symlink and a file:

bin           0  2009-11-13 12:12:09  drwxr-xr-x
  awk         0  2009-11-13 12:11:16  lrwxrwxrwx  -> gawk
  gawk   301699  2009-11-13 12:11:16  -rwxr-xr-x

could be represented by this attribute tree:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIR_ENTRY : string : “bin”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_TYPE : uint : 1 (0x1)

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME : uint : 1258110729 (0x4afd3f09)

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIR_ENTRY : string : “awk”

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_TYPE : uint : 2 (0x2)

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME : uint : 1258110676 (0x4afd3ed4)

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_SYMLINK_PATH : string : “gawk”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIR_ENTRY : string : “gawk”

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_PERMISSIONS : uint : 493 (0x1ed)

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME : uint : 1258110676 (0x4afd3ed4)

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA : raw : size: 301699, offset: 0

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE : string : “BEOS:APP_VERSION”

        • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE : uint : 1095782486 (0x41505056)

        • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA : raw : size: 680, offset: 301699

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE : string : “BEOS:TYPE”

        • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE : uint : 1296649555 (0x4d494d53)

        • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA : raw : size: 35, offset: 302379

Attribute IDs

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIRECTORY_ENTRY (“dir:entry”)
Type:

string

Value:

File name of the entry.

Allowed Values:

Any valid file (not path!) name, save “.” and “..”.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_TYPE: The file type of the entry.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_PERMISSIONS: The file permissions of the entry.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_USER: The owning user of the entry.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_GROUP: The owning group of the entry.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATIME[_NANOS]: The entry’s file access time.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME[_NANOS]: The entry’s file modification time.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_CRTIME[_NANOS]: The entry’s file creation time.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE: An extended file attribute associated with entry.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA: Only if the entry is a file: The file data.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_SYMLINK_PATH: Only if the entry is a symlink: The path the symlink points to.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIRECTORY_ENTRY: Only if the entry is a directory: A child entry in that directory.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_TYPE (“file:type”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Type of the entry.

Allowed Values:

0

B_HPKG_FILE_TYPE_FILE

file

1

B_HPKG_FILE_TYPE_DIRECTORY

directory

2

B_HPKG_FILE_TYPE_SYMLINK

symlink
Default Value:

B_HPKG_FILE_TYPE_FILE

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_PERMISSIONS (“file:permissions”)
Type:

uint

Value:

File permissions.

Allowed Values:

Any valid permission mask.

Default Value:

  • For files: 0644 (octal).

  • For directories: 0755 (octal).

  • For symlinks: 0777 (octal).

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_USER (“file:user”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the user owning the file.

Allowed Values:

Any non-empty string.

Default Value:

The user owning the installation location where the package is activated.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_GROUP (“file:group”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the group owning the file.

Allowed Values:

Any non-empty string.

Default Value:

The group owning the installation location where the package is activated.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATIME (“file:atime”)
Type:

uint

Value:

File access time (seconds since the Epoch).

Allowed Values:

Any value.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATIME_NANOS (“file:mtime:nanos”)
Type:

uint

Value:

The nano seconds fraction of the file access time.

Allowed Values:

Any value in [0, 999999999].

Default Value:

0

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME (“file:mtime”)
Type:

uint

Value:

File modified time (seconds since the Epoch).

Allowed Values:

Any value.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_MTIME_NANOS (“file:mtime:nanos”)
Type:

uint

Value:

The nano seconds fraction of the file modified time.

Allowed Values:

Any value in [0, 999999999].

Default Value:

0

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_CRTIME (“file:crtime”)
Type:

uint

Value:

File creation time (seconds since the Epoch).

Allowed Values:

Any value.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_CRTIM_NANOS (“file:crtime:nanos”)
Type:

uint

Value:

The nano seconds fraction of the file creation time.

Allowed Values:

Any value in [0, 999999999].

Default Value:

0

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE (“file:attribute”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the extended file attribute.

Allowed Values:

Any valid attribute name.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE: The type of the file attribute.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA: The file attribute data.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE (“file:attribute:type”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Type of the file attribute.

Allowed Values:

Any value in [0, 0xffffffff].

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DATA (“data”)
Type:

data

Value:

Raw data of a file or attribute.

Allowed Values:

Any value.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_SYMLINK_PATH (“symlink:path”)
Type:

string

Value:

The path the symlink refers to.

Allowed Values:

Any valid symlink path.

Default Value:

Empty string.

Child Attributes:

none

TOC Attributes

The TOC can directly contain any number of attributes of the B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_DIRECTORY_ENTRY type, which in turn contain descendant attributes as specified in the previous section. Any other attributes are ignored.

The Package Format

This section specifies how informative package attributes (package-name, version, provides, requires, …) are stored in a HPKG file. It builds on top of the container format, defining the types of attributes, their order, and allowed values.

E.g. a “.PackageInfo” file, containing a package description that is being converted into a package file:

name          mypackage
version       0.7.2-1
architecture  x86
summary       "is a very nice package"
description   "has lots of cool features\nand is written in MyC++"
vendor        "Me, Myself & I, Inc."
packager      "me@test.com"
copyrights    { "(C) 2009-2011, Me, Myself & I, Inc." }
licenses      { "Me, Myself & I Commercial License"; "MIT" }
provides {
      cmd:me
      lib:libmyself = 0.7
}
requires {
      haiku >= r1
      wget
}

could be represented by this attribute tree:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_NAME : string : “mypackage”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR : string : “0”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR : string : “7”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MICRO : string : “2”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_REVISION : uint : 1

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE : uint : 1

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SUMMARY : string : “is a very nice package”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION : string : “has lots of cool features nand is written in MyC++”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VENDOR : string : “Me, Myself & I, Inc.”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PACKAGER : string : “me@test.com”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_COPYRIGHT : string : “(C) 2009-2011, Me, Myself & I, Inc.”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_LICENSE : string : “Me, Myself & I Commercial License”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_LICENSE : string : “MIT”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PROVIDES : string : “cmd:me”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PROVIDES : string : “lib:libmyself”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR : string : “0”

      • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR : string : “7”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_REQUIRES : string : “haiku”

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR : uint : 4

    • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR : string : “r1”

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_REQUIRES : string : “wget”

Attribute IDs

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_NAME (“package:name”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the package.

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+, with <entity_name_char> being any character but ‘-’, ‘/’, ‘=’, ‘!’, ‘<’, ‘>’, or whitespace.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SUMMARY (“package:summary”)
Type:

string

Value:

Short description of the package.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION (“package:description”)
Type:

string

Value:

Long description of the package.

Allowed Values:

Any string (may contain multiple lines).

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VENDOR (“package:vendor”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the person/organization that is publishing this package.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PACKAGER (“package:packager”)
Type:

string

Value:

E-Mail address of person that created this package.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string, but e-mail preferred.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_BASE_PACKAGE (“package:base-package”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of the package that is the base package for this package. The base package must also be listed as a requirement for this package (cf. B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_REQUIRES). The package manager shall ensure that this package is installed in the same installation location as its base package.

Allowed Values:

Valid package names.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_FLAGS (“package:flags”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Set of boolean flags applying to package.

Allowed Values:

Any combination of the following.

1

B_PACKAGE_FLAG_APPROVE_LICENSE

this package’s license requires approval (i.e. must be shown to and acknowledged by user before installation)

2

B_PACKAGE_FLAG_SYSTEM_PACKAGE

this is a system package (i.e. lives under /boot/system)
Default Value:

0

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE (“package:architecture”)
Type:

uint

Value:

System architecture this package was built for.

Allowed Values:

0

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_ANY

this package doesn’t depend on the system architecture

1

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_X86

x86, 32-bit, built with gcc4

2

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_X86_GCC2

x86, 32-bit, built with gcc2

3

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_SOURCE

source code, doesn’t depend on the system architecture

4

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_X86_64

x86-64

5

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_PPC

PowerPC

6

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_ARM

ARM

7

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_M68K

m68k

8

B_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE_SPARC

sparc
Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR (“package:version.major”)
Type:

string :Value: Major (first) part of package version. :Allowed Values: Any single-lined string, composed of <alphanum_underline> :Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR: The minor part of the package version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MICRO: The micro part of the package version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE: The pre-release part of the package version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_REVISION: The revision part of the package version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR (“package:version.minor”)
Type:

string

Value:

Minor (second) part of package version.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string, composed of <alphanum_underline>.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MICRO (“package:version.micro”)
Type:

string

Value:

Micro (third) part of package version.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string, composed of <alphanum_underline_dot>.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE (“package:version.prerelease”)
Type:

string

Value:

Pre-release (fourth) part of package version. Typically something like “alpha1”, “beta2”, “rc3”.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string, composed of <alphanum_underline_dot>.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_REVISION (“package:version.revision”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Revision (fifth) part of package version.

Allowed Values:

Any integer greater than 0.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_COPYRIGHT (“package:copyright”)
Type:

string

Value:

Copyright applying to the software contained in this package.

Allowed Values:

Any (preferably single-lined) string.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_LICENSE (“package:license”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of license applying to the software contained in this package.

Allowed Values:

Any single-lined string.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_URL (“package:url”)
Type:

string

Value:

URL of the packaged software’s project home page.

Allowed Values:

A regular URL or an email-like named URL (e.g. “Project Foo <http://foo.example.com>”).

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SOURCE_URL (“package:source-url”)
Type:

string

Value:

URL of the packaged software’s source code or build instructions.

Allowed Values:

A regular URL or an email-like named URL (e.g. “Project Foo <http://foo.example.com>”).

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PROVIDES (“package:provides”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of a (optionally typed) entity that is being provided by this package.

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR: The major part of the resolvable version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_COMPATIBLE: The major part of the resolvable compatible version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_COMPATIBLE (“package:provides.compatible”)
Type:

string

Value:

Major (first) part of the resolvable compatible version, structurally identical to B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR.

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR: The minor part of the resolvable compatible version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MICRO: The micro part of the resolvable compatible version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE: The pre-release part of the resolvable compatible version.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_REVISION: The revision part of the resolvable compatible version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_REQUIRES (“package:requires”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of an entity that is required by this package (and hopefully being provided by another).

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR: The resolvable operator as int.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR: The major part of the resolvable version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR (“package:resolvable.operator”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Comparison operator for versions.

Allowed Values:

0

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_LESS

less than the specified version

1

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_LESS_EQUAL

less than or equal to the specified version

2

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_EQUAL

equal to the specified version

3

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_NOT_EQUAL

not equal to the specified version

4

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_GREATER_EQUAL

greater than the specified version

5

B_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OP_GREATER

greater than or equal to the specified version
Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SUPPLEMENTS (“package:supplements”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of an entity that is supplemented by this package (i.e. this package will automatically be selected for installation if the supplemented resolvables are already installed).

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR: The resolvable operator as int.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR: The major part of the resolvable version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS (“package:conflicts”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of an entity that this package conflicts with (i.e. only one of both can be installed at any time).

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR: The resolvable operator as int.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR: The major part of the resolvable version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_FRESHENS (“package:freshens”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of an entity that is being freshened by this package (i.e. this package will patch one or more files of the package that provide this resolvable).

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_RESOLVABLE_OPERATOR: The resolvable operator as int.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR: The major part of the resolvable version.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_REPLACES (“package:replaces”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of an entity that is being replaced by this package (used if the name of a package changes, or if a package has been split).

Allowed Values:

Any string matching <entity_name_char>+.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_CHECKSUM (“package:checksum”)
Type:

string

Value:

SHA256-chechsum of this package, in hexdump format. N.B.: this attribute can only be found in package repository files, not in package files.

Allowed Values:

64-bytes of hexdump.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_GLOBAL_WRITABLE_FILE (“package:global-writable-file”)
Type:

string

Value:

Relative path of a global writable file either included in the package or created by the included software. If the file is included in the package, it will be installed upon activation. In this case the attribute must contain a B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE child attribute. The file may actually be a directory, which is indicated by the B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_IS_WRITABLE_DIRECTORY child attribute.

Allowed Values:

Installation location relative path (e.g. “settings/…”).

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE: Specifies what to do with the writable file on package update.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_IS_WRITABLE_DIRECTORY: Specifies whether the file is actually a directory.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_SETTINGS_FILE (“package:user-settings-file”)
Type:

string

Value:

Relative path of a user settings file created by the included software or required by the software to be created by the user. The file may actually be a directory, which is indicated by the B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_IS_WRITABLE_DIRECTORY child attribute.

Allowed Values:

Installation location relative path (i.e. “settings/…”).

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SETTINGS_FILE_TEMPLATE: A template for the settings file.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_IS_WRITABLE_DIRECTORY: Specifies whether the file is actually a directory.

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE (“package:writable-file-update-type”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Specifies what to do on package update when the writable file provided by the package has been changed by the user.

Allowed Values:

0

B_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE_KEEP_OLD

the old file shall be kept

1

B_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE_MANUAL

the old file needs to be updated manually

2

B_WRITABLE_FILE_UPDATE_TYPE_AUTO_MERGE

an automatic three-way merge shall be attempted
Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_IS_WRITABLE_DIRECTORY (“package:is-writable-directory”)
Type:

uint

Value:

Specifies whether the parent global writable file or user settings file attribute actually refers to a directory.

Allowed Values:

0

The parent attribute refers to a file.

1

The parent attribute refers to a directory.
Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_SETTINGS_FILE_TEMPLATE (“package:settings-file-template”)
Type:

string

Value:

Relative path of an included template file for the user settings file.

Allowed Values:

Installation location relative path of a file included in the package.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER (“package:user”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of a user required by the package. Upon package activation the user will be created, if necessary.

Allowed Values:

Any valid user name, i.e. must be non-empty composed of <alphanum_underline>.

Child Attributes:

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_REAL_NAME: The user’s real name.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_HOME: The user’s home directory.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_SHELL: The user’s shell.

  • B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_GROUP: The user’s group(s).

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_REAL_NAME (“package:user.real-name”)
Type:

string

Value:

The real name of the user.

Allowed Values:

Any string.

Default Value:

The user name.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_HOME (“package:user.home”)
Type:

string

Value:

The path to the home directory of the user.

Allowed Values:

Any valid path.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_SHELL (“package:user.shell”)
Type:

string

Value:

The path to the shell to be used for the user.

Allowed Values:

Any valid path.

Default Value:

“/bin/bash”.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_USER_GROUP (“package:user.group”)
Type:

string

Value:

A group the user belongs to. At least one must be specified.

Allowed Values:

Any valid group name, i.e. must be non-empty composed of <alphanum_underline>.

Default Value:

The default group for users.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_GROUP (“package:group”)
Type:

string

Value:

Name of a group required by the package. Upon package activation the group will be created, if necessary.

Allowed Values:

Any valid group name, i.e. must be non-empty composed of <alphanum_underline>.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT (“package:post-install-script”)
Type:

string

Value:

Relative path of a script that shall be executed after package activation.

Allowed Values:

Installation location relative path of a file included in the package. Must start with “boot/post-install/”, so besides being run after package installation, it also gets run on the first boot after the OS is installed.

Child Attributes:

none

B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE_PRE_UNINSTALL_SCRIPT (“package:pre-uninstall-script”)
Type:

string

Value:

Relative path of a script that shall be executed before package deactivation.

Allowed Values:

Installation location relative path of a file included in the package. For consistency, it is recommended to start with “boot/pre-uninstall/”.

Child Attributes:

none

Haiku Package Repository Format

Very similar to the package format, there’s a Haiku Package Repository (HPKR) file format. Such a file contains informative attributes about the package repository and package attributes for all packages contained in the repository. However, this format does not contain any files.

Two stacked format layers can be identified:

  • A generic container format for structured data.

  • A package format, extending the archive format with attributes for package management.

The Data Container Format

A HPKR file consists of three sections:

Header

Identifies the file as HPKR file and provides access to the other sections.

Heap

Contains the next two sections.

Repository Info

A section containing an archived BMessage of a BRepositoryInfo object.

Package Attributes

A section just like the package attributes section of the HPKG, only that this section contains the package attributes of all the packages contained in the repository (not just one).

The Repository Info and Package Attributes sections aren’t really separate sections, as they are stored at the end of the heap.

Header

The header has the following structure:

struct hpkg_repo_header {
      uint32  magic;
      uint16  header_size;
      uint16  version;
      uint64  total_size;
      uint16  minor_version;

      // heap
      uint16  heap_compression;
      uint32  heap_chunk_size;
      uint64  heap_size_compressed;
      uint64  heap_size_uncompressed;

      // repository info section
      uint32  info_length;
      uint32  reserved1;

      // package attributes section
      uint64  packages_length;
      uint64  packages_strings_length;
      uint64  packages_strings_count;
};
magic

The string ‘hpkr’ (B_HPKG_REPO_MAGIC).

header_size

The size of the header. This is also the absolute offset of the heap.

version

The version of the HPKR format the file conforms to. The current version is 2 (B_HPKG_REPO_VERSION).

total_size

The total file size.

minor_version

The minor version of the HPKR format the file conforms to. The current minor version is 1 (B_HPKG_REPO_MINOR_VERSION). Additions of new attributes to the attributes section should generally only increment the minor version. When a file with a greater minor version is encountered, the reader should ignore unknown attributes.

heap_compression

Compression format used for the heap.

heap_chunk_size

The size of the chunks the uncompressed heap data are divided into.

heap_size_compressed

The compressed size of the heap. This includes all administrative data (the chunk size array).

heap_size_uncompressed

The uncompressed size of the heap. This is only the size of the raw data (including the repository info and attributes section), not including administrative data (the chunk size array).

info_length

The uncompressed size of the repository info section.

reserved1

Reserved for later use.

packages_length

The uncompressed size of the package attributes section.

packages_strings_length

The size of the strings subsection of the package attributes section.

packages_strings_count

The number of entries in the strings subsection of the package attributes section.

Attribute IDs

The package repository format defines only the top-level attribute ID B_HPKG_ATTRIBUTE_ID_PACKAGE. An attribute with that ID represents a package. Its child attributes specify the various meta information for the package as defined in the The Package Format/Attribute IDs section.