alpm-hooks(5)
=============

NAME
----

alpm-hooks - alpm hook file format

SYNOPSIS
--------

--------
[Trigger] (Required, Repeatable)
Operation = Install|Upgrade|Remove (Required, Repeatable)
Type = File|Package (Required)
Target = <Path|PkgName> (Required, Repeatable)

[Action] (Required)
Description = ... (Optional)
When = PreTransaction|PostTransaction (Required)
Exec = <Command> (Required)
Depends = <PkgName> (Optional)
AbortOnFail (Optional, PreTransaction only)
NeedsTargets (Optional)
--------

DESCRIPTION
-----------

libalpm provides the ability to specify hooks to run before or after
transactions based on the packages and/or files being modified.  Hooks consist
of a single '[Action]' section describing the action to be run and one or more
'[Trigger]' section describing which transactions it should be run for.

Hooks are read from files located in the system hook directory
+{datarootdir}/libalpm/hooks+, and additional custom directories specified in
linkman:pacman.conf[5] (the default is +{sysconfdir}/pacman.d/hooks+).  The
file names are required to have the suffix ".hook".  Hooks are run in
alphabetical order of their file name, where the ordering ignores the suffix.

TRIGGERS
--------

Hooks must contain at least one '[Trigger]' section that determines which
transactions will cause the hook to run.  If multiple trigger sections are
defined the hook will run if the transaction matches *any* of the triggers.

*Operation =* Install|Upgrade|Remove::
	Select the type of operation to match targets against.  May be specified
	multiple times.  Installations are considered an upgrade if the package or
	file is already present on the system regardless of whether the new package
	version is actually greater than the currently installed version.  For File
	triggers, this is true even if the file changes ownership from one package
	to another.  Required.

*Type =* File|Package::
	Select whether targets are matched against transaction packages or files.
	See CAVEATS for special notes regarding File triggers.  Required.

*Target =* <path|package>::
	The file path or package name to match against the active transaction.
	File paths refer to the files in the package archive; the installation root
	should *not* be included in the path.  Shell-style glob patterns are
	allowed. It is possible to invert matches by prepending a file with an
	exclamation mark. May be specified multiple times. Required.

ACTIONS
-------

*Description =* ...::
	An optional description that describes the action being taken by the
	hook for use in front-end output.

*Exec =* <command>::
	Command to run.  Command arguments are split on whitespace.  Values
	containing whitespace should be enclosed in quotes.  Required.

*When =* PreTransaction|PostTransaction::
	When to run the hook.  Required.

*Depends =* <package>::
	Packages that must be installed for the hook to run. May be specified
	multiple times.

*AbortOnFail*::
	Causes the transaction to be aborted if the hook exits non-zero.  Only
	applies to PreTransaction hooks.

*NeedsTargets*::
	Causes the list of matched trigger targets to be passed to the running hook
	on 'stdin'.

OVERRIDING HOOKS
----------------

Hooks may be overridden by placing a file with the same name in a higher
priority hook directory.  Hooks may be disabled by overriding them with
a symlink to '/dev/null'.

EXAMPLES
--------

--------
# Force disks to sync to reduce the risk of data corruption

[Trigger]
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Operation = Remove
Type = Package
Target = *

[Action]
Depends = coreutils
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /usr/bin/sync
--------

CAVEATS
-------

There are situations when file triggers may act in unexpected ways.  Hooks are
triggered using the file list of the installed, upgraded, or removed package.
When installing or upgrading a file that is extracted with a '.pacnew'
extension, the original file name is used in triggering the hook.  When
removing a package, all files owned by that package can trigger a hook whether
or not they were actually present on the file system before package removal.

PostTransaction hooks will *not* run if the transaction fails to complete for
any reason.

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