Optional Software Components

Some portions of your software that belong with the main body might be optional, and some users might not want to install them. Examples include localization files for different locales, man pages and other documentation, and header files needed only by developers or DTrace users.

Traditionally, optional content has been delivered in separate packages with identifiers such as -dev or -devel appended to the package name. Administrators installed optional content by installing these optional packages. One problem with this solution is that the administrator must discover optional packages to install by examining lists of available packages.

IPS implements a mechanism called facets to deliver optional package content. Facets are similar to variants: Each facet has a name and a value, and actions can contain multiple tags for different facet names. In the image, the default value for all facets is true, and the value of a particular facet can be explicitly set to either true or false. The facet namespace is hierarchical. The pkg client implicitly sets facet.* to true for the image. The value of a particular facet in the image is the value of the longest matching facet name.

The following example shows how the administrator can include man pages but exclude all other documentation from being installed in this image. Man pages and other documentation can be in the same package with software and other content that the administrator wants to install. In the package manifests, man pages are tagged with facet.doc.man=true. Other documentation actions might be tagged with facet.doc.pdf=true or facet.doc.html=true, for example. In the image, the administrator can use the following commands to include the man pages but exclude all other documentation:

# pkg change-facet facet.doc.*=false
# pkg change-facet facet.doc.man=true

Similarly, actions in package manifests can be tagged with locale facets such as facet.locale.de=true or facet.locale.fr=true. The following commands install only the German localization in this image:

# pkg change-facet facet.locale.*=false
# pkg change-facet facet.locale.de=true

If an action contains multiple facet tags, the action is installed if the value of any of the facet tags is true. Use the pkg facet command to display the facets that have been explicitly set in the image.

$ pkg facet
FACETS          VALUE
facet.doc.*     False
facet.doc.man   True
facet.locale.*  False
facet.locale.de True

Use pkgmogrify to quickly and accurately add facet tags to your package manifests, using regular expressions to match the different types of files. This is described in detail in Chapter 6, Modifying Package Manifests Programmatically.

Facets can also be used to manage dependencies, turning dependencies on and off depending on whether the facet is set. See Constraints and Freezing for a discussion of facet.version-lock.*.

The following facets might be useful for software developers:

facet.devel             facet.locale.es_BO      facet.locale.lt_LT
facet.doc               facet.locale.es_CL      facet.locale.lv
facet.doc.man           facet.locale.es_CO      facet.locale.lv_LV
facet.doc.pdf           facet.locale.es_CR      facet.locale.mk
facet.doc.info          facet.locale.es_DO      facet.locale.mk_MK
facet.doc.html          facet.locale.es_EC      facet.locale.ml
facet.locale.*          facet.locale.es_ES      facet.locale.ml_IN
facet.locale.af         facet.locale.es_GT      facet.locale.mr
facet.locale.af_ZA      facet.locale.es_HN      facet.locale.mr_IN
facet.locale.ar         facet.locale.es_MX      facet.locale.ms
facet.locale.ar_AE      facet.locale.es_NI      facet.locale.ms_MY
facet.locale.ar_BH      facet.locale.es_PA      facet.locale.mt
facet.locale.ar_DZ      facet.locale.es_PE      facet.locale.mt_MT
facet.locale.ar_EG      facet.locale.es_PR      facet.locale.nb
facet.locale.ar_IQ      facet.locale.es_PY      facet.locale.nb_NO
facet.locale.ar_JO      facet.locale.es_SV      facet.locale.nl
facet.locale.ar_KW      facet.locale.es_US      facet.locale.nl_BE
facet.locale.ar_LY      facet.locale.es_UY      facet.locale.nl_NL
facet.locale.ar_MA      facet.locale.es_VE      facet.locale.nn
facet.locale.ar_OM      facet.locale.et         facet.locale.nn_NO
facet.locale.ar_QA      facet.locale.et_EE      facet.locale.no
facet.locale.ar_SA      facet.locale.eu         facet.locale.or
facet.locale.ar_TN      facet.locale.fi         facet.locale.or_IN
facet.locale.ar_YE      facet.locale.fi_FI      facet.locale.pa
facet.locale.as         facet.locale.fr         facet.locale.pa_IN
facet.locale.as_IN      facet.locale.fr_BE      facet.locale.pl
facet.locale.az         facet.locale.fr_CA      facet.locale.pl_PL
facet.locale.az_AZ      facet.locale.fr_CH      facet.locale.pt
facet.locale.be         facet.locale.fr_FR      facet.locale.pt_BR
facet.locale.be_BY      facet.locale.fr_LU      facet.locale.pt_PT
facet.locale.bg         facet.locale.ga         facet.locale.ro
facet.locale.bg_BG      facet.locale.gl         facet.locale.ro_RO
facet.locale.bn         facet.locale.gu         facet.locale.ru
facet.locale.bn_IN      facet.locale.gu_IN      facet.locale.ru_RU
facet.locale.bs         facet.locale.he         facet.locale.ru_UA
facet.locale.bs_BA      facet.locale.he_IL      facet.locale.rw
facet.locale.ca         facet.locale.hi         facet.locale.sa
facet.locale.ca_ES      facet.locale.hi_IN      facet.locale.sa_IN
facet.locale.cs         facet.locale.hr         facet.locale.sk
facet.locale.cs_CZ      facet.locale.hr_HR      facet.locale.sk_SK
facet.locale.da         facet.locale.hu         facet.locale.sl
facet.locale.da_DK      facet.locale.hu_HU      facet.locale.sl_SI
facet.locale.de         facet.locale.hy         facet.locale.sq
facet.locale.de_AT      facet.locale.hy_AM      facet.locale.sq_AL
facet.locale.de_BE      facet.locale.id         facet.locale.sr
facet.locale.de_CH      facet.locale.id_ID      facet.locale.sr_ME
facet.locale.de_DE      facet.locale.is         facet.locale.sr_RS
facet.locale.de_LI      facet.locale.is_IS      facet.locale.sv
facet.locale.de_LU      facet.locale.it         facet.locale.sv_SE
facet.locale.el         facet.locale.it_CH      facet.locale.ta
facet.locale.el_CY      facet.locale.it_IT      facet.locale.ta_IN
facet.locale.el_GR      facet.locale.ja         facet.locale.te
facet.locale.en         facet.locale.ja_JP      facet.locale.te_IN
facet.locale.en_AU      facet.locale.ka         facet.locale.th
facet.locale.en_BW      facet.locale.ka_GE      facet.locale.th_TH
facet.locale.en_CA      facet.locale.kk         facet.locale.tr
facet.locale.en_GB      facet.locale.kk_KZ      facet.locale.tr_TR
facet.locale.en_HK      facet.locale.kn         facet.locale.uk
facet.locale.en_IE      facet.locale.kn_IN      facet.locale.uk_UA
facet.locale.en_IN      facet.locale.ko         facet.locale.vi
facet.locale.en_MT      facet.locale.ko_KR      facet.locale.vi_VN
facet.locale.en_NZ      facet.locale.ks         facet.locale.zh
facet.locale.en_PH      facet.locale.ks_IN      facet.locale.zh_CN
facet.locale.en_SG      facet.locale.ku         facet.locale.zh_HK
facet.locale.en_US      facet.locale.ku_TR      facet.locale.zh_SG
facet.locale.en_ZW      facet.locale.ky         facet.locale.zh_TW
facet.locale.eo         facet.locale.ky_KG      
facet.locale.es_AR      facet.locale.lg