NAME

pkgquest − package question file

DESCRIPTION

pkgquest is an ASCII file that defines questions (and resulting parameters) for packages which require user input during an installation or upgrade.  It is created by the software package developer. 

Each entry in the pkgquest file is a series of lines that define a prompt for the user to provide a parameter input.  The following are the definitions of the lines:

Nparameter_name
Hheader_line
Bbody_line
Ffooter_line
?help_message_line
RI[lower_bound upper_bound]
RS[regular_expression]
RC
RY
RAword [word]
RDword [word]

One each and only one each of the N and R lines is required and allowed; however, at least one of the others is necessary to give some indication of what is requested.  The lines must be arranged in the order listed.  The R lines have a response type specified by I, S, C or Y which indicate that an integer, a string, a character or yes/no, respectively, are expected.  Integer responses have an optional range specified, helpful for menus as well as parameters requiring integer values.  String response may have a regular expression used to verify correct responses.  The R lines may alternately have special response types A or D which indicate that words specified after the A will be added to the parameter if the user answers yes to the prompt or sets the initial default for the parameter to the words after the D.  The following defines how the lines appear on the terminal:

    package_name Package Query #1
zero to ten header lines
zero or more body lines (split into pages if all won’t fit on display)
zero to ten footer lines

The help lines are displayed only if requested and appear on the terminal as follows:

    package_name Package Query #1 Help
one or more help lines, as many as necessary
Press RETURN to return to the package_name Package Query #1 screen. 

If no help lines are specified, a default message stating that no help is available is presented.  If the help lines cannot all be displayed on the screen at once, they will be split into pages. 

A package cannot request input containing ASCII codes 0x00 to 0x1f or 0x7f to 0xff, since those are reserved for pkgquest(1).  In addition, when the user enters ? followed by a newline, the help message will be displayed. 

There is no required order in which the questions must be specified within the file, except they will be displayed as ordered. 

EXAMPLES

A sample pkgquest for the package nsu:

NPTNUM
F Enter the number of pseudo-terminal devices
F        to configure on your system.
? NOTE: since each pseudo-terminal device configured
?       allocates memory and streams buffers, choose only
?       the number of terminals you really require.
RI 0 256

A sample pkgquest for the package X11:

NCLASSES
F Setting default classes.
RS x11 menu
NCLASSES
FInstall all the X11 modules?
? You will be asked to select among the following
? modules if you answer ’n’:
?      clients
?      software development files
?      online manual pages
?      demos
?      examples
RA newonly generic sharedlib bitmap appsdir client swdev man demos examples
NCLASSES
FInstall the X11 clients?
RA newonly generic sharedlib bitmap appsdir client
 NCLASSES
FInstall the X11 software development files?
RA newonly generic sharedlib bitmap swdev
 NCLASSES
FInstall the X11 online manual pages?
RA newonly man
 NCLASSES
FInstall the X11 demos?
RA newonly generic sharedlib appsdir demos
 NCLASSES
FInstall the X11 examples?
RA newonly examples

NOTES

The header and body sections are provided for those packages wishing to provide long messages to the user relevant to the question at hand.  It is probably better to put such information into the help section with a statement noting that help is available. 

FILES

/var/sadm/pkg/∗/install/questionslocation of pkgquest file

SEE ALSO

pkgask(1), pkgquest(1). 
 

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