Packages

Packages are listed in packages sections of the image description. The type attribute of a section defines when its packages are installed or removed:

<image schemaversion="8.5" name="kiwi-test-image-some">
    <packages type="bootstrap">
        <package name="filesystem"/>
        <package name="openSUSE-release"/>
    </packages>
    <packages type="image">
        <package name="patterns-openSUSE-base"/>
    </packages>
</image>

type

Packages of the section

bootstrap

Installed first, with the package manager of the build host, to create the initial root tree, see The Prepare Step.

image

Installed inside of the root tree (chroot) after the bootstrap.

an image type, for example iso or oem

Installed only when this image type is built.

uninstall, delete

Removed from the image, see Removing Packages.

A packages section also supports the attributes profiles, to use it only for the given profiles (see Profiles), and patternType (see The namedCollection and product elements).

The package element

Each package element adds the package given in its name attribute. The optional arch attribute limits the package to a build host architecture, as reported by uname -m. In the following example, grub2-x86_64-efi and shim are only installed on x86_64 hosts:

<packages type="image">
    <package name="grub2"/>
    <package name="grub2-x86_64-efi" arch="x86_64"/>
    <package name="shim" arch="x86_64"/>
</packages>

The name is passed to the package manager as is. RPM-based package managers therefore also accept a capability, for example <package name="/usr/bin/my-binary"/>. Such capabilities are not always resolvable, for example in the Open Build Service, and are therefore not recommended.

The archive element

Software which is not available as a package can be added as a tar archive. Each archive element adds the archive given in its name attribute, which KIWI NG looks up in the image description directory:

<packages type="image">
    <archive name="custom-program1.tgz"/>
    <archive name="custom-program2.tar"/>
</packages>

The archives are unpacked into the root of the image with GNU tar, in the listed order, after the packages are installed. Existing files are overwritten.

The namedCollection and product elements

A namedCollection element installs a predefined list of packages: a pattern on SUSE distributions or a group on Red Hat-based distributions. A product element installs an openSUSE product. Both take a name and an optional arch attribute.

The patternType attribute of the packages section controls which dependencies of patterns are installed:

onlyRequired

Only the required packages and patterns.

plusRecommended

The required and the recommended packages and patterns.

Single packages are excluded from installation with ignore elements, for example to not install some of the recommended packages of a pattern:

<packages type="image" patternType="plusRecommended">
    <namedCollection name="network-server"/>
    <package name="kernel"/>
    <ignore name="ejabberd"/>
    <ignore name="puppet-server"/>
</packages>

ignore elements have no effect in uninstall and delete sections.

Removing Packages

Packages are removed from the image at the end of the prepare step, after config.sh ran. There are two ways:

Section

Removes

<packages type="uninstall">

The packages, all packages depending on them and their orphaned dependencies, with the package manager.

<packages type="delete">

Only the packages, with rpm or dpkg and without dependency checks. This can break dependencies and the package database.

Warning

uninstall can remove more packages than listed, including tools needed by later build stages. Use it with care.

uninstall removes tools which are only needed during the build, without listing their dependencies. The following example installs a compiler to build a program in config.sh from sources shipped in an archive, and removes the compiler afterwards:

<packages type="image">
    <package name="ninja"/>
    <package name="clang"/>
    <package name="meson"/>
    <archive name="foo_app_sources.tar.gz"/>
</packages>
<!-- uninstalled after config.sh ran -->
<packages type="uninstall">
    <package name="ninja"/>
    <package name="meson"/>
    <package name="clang"/>
</packages>

# config.sh
pushd /opt/src/foo_app
export CC=clang
meson build
cd build && ninja && ninja install
popd

Other uses are removing shadow or partitioning tools such as parted from containers, or the networking tools from images for devices without a network.