shtool install - GNU shtool install(1) command

shtool install [-v|--verbose] [-t|--trace] [-d|--mkdir] [-c|--copy] [-C|--compare-copy] [-s|--strip] [-m|--mode mode] [-o|--owner owner] [-g|--group group] [-e|--exec sed-cmd] file [file ...] path

This command installs a one or more files to a given target path providing all important options of the BSD install(1) command. The trick is that the functionality is provided in a portable way.

The following command line options are available.

-v, --verbose

Display some processing information.

-t, --trace

Enable the output of the essential shell commands which are executed.

-d, --mkdir

To maximize BSD compatiblity, the BSD "shtool CWinstall -d usage is internally mapped to the shtool CWmkdir -f -p -m 755" command.

-c, --copy

Copy the file to the target path. Default is to move.

-C, --compare-copy

Same as -c except if the destination file already exists and is identical to the source file, no installation is done and the target remains untouched.

-s, --strip

This option strips program executables during the installation, see strip(1). Default is to install verbatim.

-m, --mode mode

The file mode applied to the target, see chmod(1). Setting mode to "CW-" skips this step and leaves the operating system default which is usually based on umask(1). Some file modes require superuser privileges to be set. Default is 0755.

-o, --owner owner

The file owner name or id applied to the target, see chown(1). This option requires superuser privileges to execute. Default is to skip this step and leave the operating system default which is usually based on the executing uid or the parent setuid directory.

-g, --group group

The file group name or id applied to the target, see chgrp(1). This option requires superuser privileges to execute to the fullest extend, otherwise the choice of group is limited on most operating systems. Default is to skip this step and leave the operating system default which is usually based on the executing gid or the parent setgid directory.

-e, --exec sed-cmd

This option can be used one or multiple times to apply one or more sed(1) commands to the file contents during installation.

 #   Makefile
 install:
      :
     shtool install -c -s -m 4755 foo $(bindir)/
     shtool install -c -m 644 foo.man $(mandir)/man1/foo.1
     shtool install -c -m 644 -e "s/@p@/$prefix/g" foo.conf $(etcdir)/

The GNU shtool install command was originally written by Ralf S. Engelschall <rse@engelschall.com> in 1997 for GNU shtool. It was prompted by portability issues in the installation procedures of OSSP libraries.

shtool(1), umask(1), chmod(1), chown(1), chgrp(1), strip(1), sed(1).