content/wiki/pkg/pkg_man.md

Package management is the process of installing, updating and removing software, tools and libraries. On GNU/Linux systems, package management is usually done with a package manager.

MatterLinux Package Manager

In a Matter system, package management is generally done with the MatterLinux Package Manager (mp). mp lets you install, remove, update and search different MatterLinux packages across different repos.

Installation

mp should be already installed on a MatterLinux system. However if you want to install mp from the source, then you should follow this section from the README.

Note

You should run all the mp and related commands as the root user.

Configuration

Configuration file for mp can be found at /etc/mp/cfg. This file is used specify repos and configure general settings.

Here is the configuration shipped with the MatterLinux 24 releases:

[general]
tmpdir = /tmp/mp

[base]
uri = https://pkgs.matterlinux.xyz/base

[desktop]
uri = https://pkgs.matterlinux.xyz/desktop

Lets start by breaking down the [general] section:

• tmpdir (path): Specifies the temporary directory used by the mp. This directory will be used to save packages and signatures, most of the files in this directory will be removed after operation.

Other general configuration options are:

• debug (yes/no): This setting is used to enable the debug logging, however mp don't have any debug logging (it will be implemented in the future) so there is no point at enabling it.

Next sections specify the repos. Section name is the repo name, and it should match with the actual repo name. Repo options are:

• uri (URI): Repo URI, you can use http, https or ftp protocols.
• signing (yes/no): Enable/disable PGP signature verification for the repo, by default it's enabled.

Important

Do NOT disable signature verification if you don't know what are you doing! There is no way to confirm the legitimacy of the packages without signature verification!

Environment options

mp also has a few other options that you specify as an environment variable.

One of these is the MP_ROOT option. This option lets you change the target root directory. By default mp install all the packages to /, stores all the information under the / etc. By changing the target root directory you can change this.

For example lets say you want to install all the packages to /tmp/testroot. To do so, first you will need to setup a root file system structure inside /tmp/testroot:

# mkdir /tmp/testroot
# pushd /tmp/testroot
# mkdir -p etc boot dev home proc root run srv sys tmp usr/lib usr/bin usr/sbin var/lib
# ln -sf bin usr/bin
# ln -sf sbin usr/sbin
# ln -sf lib usr/lib
# ln -sf lib64 usr/lib
# popd

Now you can use mp with the MP_ROOT variable, for example:

# MP_ROOT=/tmp/testroot mp-sync
# MP_ROOT=/tmp/testroot mp-install which 

Another one of these environment options is the MP_YES option. By default operations such as installing packages, updating packages and removing packages will ask you to confirm the operation using an interactive yes/no prompt. To disable this prompt and confirm all operations by default, you can set the MP_YES environment variable. You can set it to whatever you want, just make sure it's set.

MP_NORET is another option that you can set. By default mp will print the return status for each command, you can disable this by setting MP_NORET to whatever you want.

The last one of these options is the MP_GREP option. This option is only useful if you are using the query or the list command. If set, mp will print grep-able output for these commands. Again, you can set it to whatever you want.

Syncing Repos

To sync remote repo information and package lists, you can use the mp-sync command. After running it mp will:

1. Download the repo metadata for all the repos. Repo metadata is located at REPO_URI/repo
2. Parse the repo metadata and download all the repo package lists. These lists are located at REPO_URI/REPO_NAME.tar.gz
3. Move and extract the repo lists to $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/repos/REPO_NAME and parse the plain package lists (pkgs)
4. Tell you the repo signatures

You can add these signatures to your public key ring with gpg:

# gpg --receive-keys [fingerprint]

Installing Packages

To install a package, you can use the mp-install command:

# mp-install which 

After running this command, mp will:

1. Check all the synced repos for the which package
2. Check if the package is already installed
3. Resolve all the dependencies for the which package
4. Ask you if you want to continue with the installation
5. Download the which package and it's signature from the repo to the tmpdir
6. Verify the package using the signature
7. Extract the package to $MP_ROOT
8. Run the package install script if it contains one
9. Add an entry for the which package to $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/db and $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/files

You can also install multiple packages using the mp-install command:

# mp-install grub systemd linux

Removing/Uninstalling Packages

To remove an installed package, you can use the mp-remove command:

# mp-remove which

After running this command, mp will:

1. Check all the installed packages to see if which is installed or not
2. Find all the files that which package extracted during the installation
3. Ask you if you want to continue with the removal
4. Delete all the files found in the step 2
5. Remove the package entry for the which package from $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/db and $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/files

You can also remove multiple packages:

# mp-remove git curl

Updating Packages

You can update all of the installed packages using the mp-update command. After running this command, mp will:

1. Check if all the installed packages are up-to-date
2. Find all the packages that are not up-to-date
3. Ask if you want to continue with the update
4. Act like the mp-install command, it will download, verify and install all the packages, overwriting old files
5. Save new up-to-date package entries to the $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/db and $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/files, overwriting the old entries.

Searching Packages

You can search for packages in the repos using the mp-search command. For example, this command will return a list of all the packages that contain lib in their name:

# mp-search lib 

After running this command, mp will:

1. Check all the repos for any packages that contain lib in the name
2. Print the package
3. Print the count of the results

Querying packages

You can get more information about a package by querying it. For example to get more information about the which package:

# mp-query which

This will provide the following information about the package:

• Name of the package
• Repo that the package is in
• Description
• Hash (sum)
• Version
• If the package is installed
• If the package is up-to-date

After running this command, mp will:

1. Check all the repos for the which package
2. Fetch information about the package from the $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/repos/REPO_NAME and $MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/db.

List packages

You can list all the installed packages with the mp-list command.

After running this command, mp will:

1. Load the database ($MP_ROOT/var/lib/mp/db)
2. Loop over all the entries and print the package names and the versions

Other Package Managers

It's a really bad idea to use multiple package managers as they may conflict and may result in an unstable system. However package managers such as flatpak and snap offer containerized packages, making them possible to use with other package managers.

• Flatpak will be added to desktop repo in the future. Currently the only way to use flatpak is to install it from the source.
• Snap will never be added to any official repo, so only way to use it is to install it from the source.