12.4 Package Files

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Each emitted package is described by its own file, layered over a shared base.

Key	Meaning
`format`	`tar` (the default) or `peipkg`
`clear_out`	Whether to clear the package's stage directory first
`builds`	Which build targets to stage; inferred from the file references when omitted
`package`	The metadata table
`files`	Source reference to destination
`symlinks`	Destination to target
`excludes`	Patterns removed from the matched set
`multipack`	Fan this one definition into several packages
`publish`	Where to publish the result
`dependencies`, `optional_dependencies`, `conflicts`, `provides`, `replaces`	The manifest relationships
`side_effects`	The declared maintenance operations
`sd_overrides`	Path to security descriptor
`claims`	Role declarations

The manifest-facing lists are top-level tables in the package file rather than members of the metadata table.

A peipkg-format package additionally requires a version, an architecture, and a license — the last a distribution requirement stricter than the format's, which treats the license field as optional.

12.4.1 Metadata #

[package] carries the name, version, architecture, description, license, homepage, default_root, and special_system_package.

default_root is validated against the named-root grammar. special_system_package waives the layout check at pack time — but not the side-effect check — and grants nothing at install or compose time.

12.4.2 Relationships #

Dependencies take either of two forms:

libfoo = ">= 1.2"
libfoo = { constraint = ">= 1.2", root = "initramfs" }

A table with no constraint matches any version. The table form is the only way to place a dependency in another root; there is no string sugar for it.

Conflicts, provides, and replaces are plain name-to-string maps. Conflicts deliberately carry no root: a conflict is root-local by construction, and the consumer rejects a root on a conflicts entry outright.

side_effects is a list of strings passed through verbatim: pekit does not check membership of the recognised set, the consumer does. What pekit does check is agreement with the payload, at pack time and in both directions — see Building and signing.

12.4.3 Files #

[files] maps a source reference to a destination. The key grammar is the interesting half:

Reference	Means
`@recipe:<path>`	A literal tree in the recipe directory
`@source:<path>`	A literal tree in the fetched source
`@workspace:<path>`	A literal tree in the workspace
`<target>:<path>`	The staged output of a build target
`:<path>`	The staged output of the `main` target
`<path>`	Rewritten to the owning layer's prefix

Globs are supported, and a directory source maps its whole subtree.

A value may be a plain destination string, or a table with a path and an override flag. override is not a merge flag: it excludes that one entry from the layout validation, per file, invisibly in the resulting package.

That is a second producer-side waiver alongside special_system_package — narrower, but undeclared in the artifact, so a consumer sees an ordinary package that simply fails validation at install time.

12.4.4 Symlinks and excludes #

[symlinks] maps a destination to its target, with the same override option. excludes is a list of reference-grammar patterns removed from whatever the file map matched.

12.4.5 Multipack #

[multipack].enum fans one package definition into several. It takes a static list of values, or a derived form naming a path and a pattern to enumerate from. Each value binds a placeholder available throughout the definition, so one stanza can emit a package per kernel module, per locale, or per plugin.

12.4.6 Publish #

[publish.localdir] is an array of tables naming a path and whether to overwrite. It is the local development route; a real repository is published with the repository tool.

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