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PKGBUILD Spec

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Marco edited this page Feb 16, 2026 · 2 revisions

Complete reference of all supported fields and functions. See The PKGBUILD for an introduction to the format.

Variables

Key Type Description
pkgname string Package name (required)
pkgver string Package version (required)
pkgrel string Package release number (required)
epoch string Package epoch, used to force upgrade over a lower version number
pkgdesc string Short package description (required)
maintainer string Package maintainer name and email
url string Upstream project URL
section string Package section (Debian only). Available: admin comm database debug devel doc editors electronics embedded fonts games graphics httpd interpreters kernel libdevel libs localization mail math misc net news science shells sound text vcs video web x11
priority string Package priority (Debian only)
install string Name of the install scriptlet file
debconf_config string Debconf config file (Debian only)
debconf_template string Debconf template file (Debian only)

Arrays

Key Type Description
arch list Supported architectures. Use any for arch-independent packages. Values: x86_64, i686, aarch64, armv7h, etc.
license list SPDX license identifiers (e.g., GPL-3.0-only, MIT). Also accepts PROPRIETARY and CUSTOM
copyright list Copyright statements
depends list Runtime dependencies
optdepends list Optional dependencies
makedepends list Build-time dependencies
provides list Virtual packages this package provides
conflicts list Packages that conflict with this one
replaces list Packages this one replaces
source list Source URIs or local paths relative to the PKGBUILD. Supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, Git (git+https://...), and local files. Use filename::url to set a custom filename
sha256sums list SHA-256 checksums for sources. Use SKIP to bypass verification
sha512sums list SHA-512 checksums for sources. Use SKIP to bypass verification
backup list Config files that should not be overwritten on upgrade (absolute paths without leading /)
options list Build options. !strip disables binary stripping, !staticlibs disables static library processing

Functions

Key Type Description
prepare() func Runs before build(). Use for patching sources
build() func Build the source. Working directory is $srcdir
package() func Install files into $pkgdir. Working directory is $srcdir (required)
preinst() func Runs before package installation
postinst() func Runs after package installation
prerm() func Runs before package removal
postrm() func Runs after package removal
pretrans() func Runs at the start of a transaction (RPM only)
posttrans() func Runs at the end of a transaction (RPM only)

Source Types

Type Syntax Example
HTTP/HTTPS https://example.com/file.tar.gz "https://example.com/v1.0.tar.gz"
FTP ftp://example.com/file.tar.gz "ftp://mirror.example.com/src.tar.gz"
Git git+https://... "git+https://github.com/user/repo"
Git branch git+https://...#branch=name "git+https://github.com/user/repo#branch=dev"
Git tag git+https://...#tag=name "git+https://github.com/user/repo#tag=v1.0"
Local file relative path "my-config.conf"
Custom name filename::url "source.tar.gz::https://example.com/v1.tar.gz"

Authentication

Git sources support SSH key-based authentication for private repositories. When cloning requires authentication, yap automatically falls back to SSH using the key at ~/.ssh/id_rsa. If the key is protected by a passphrase, provide it with the --ssh-password / -p CLI flag.

No other authentication method is currently supported. HTTP/HTTPS and FTP sources are fetched with an unauthenticated client -- there is no support for HTTP Basic Auth, Bearer tokens, .netrc, or credential helpers.

Example

pkgname=myapp
pkgver=1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="My application"
maintainer="John Doe <john@example.com>"
arch=('x86_64')
license=('MIT')
url="https://github.com/user/myapp"
depends=(
  'libc'
)
makedepends=(
  'gcc'
  'make'
)
makedepends__apt=(
  'build-essential'
)
source=(
  "git+${url}#tag=v${pkgver}"
)
sha256sums=(
  'SKIP'
)

build() {
  cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}"
  make
}

package() {
  cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}"
  make DESTDIR="${pkgdir}" install
}

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