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.TH "apk-add" "8" "2026-02-26"
.PP
.SH NAME
.PP
apk add - add or update constraints to \fIworld\fR and commit changes
.PP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBapk add\fR [<\fIoptions\fR>.\&.\&.\&] [\fIconstraints\fR|\fIfile\fR].\&.\&.\&
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
\fBapk add\fR adds or updates given constraints to \fIworld\fR (see \fBapk-world\fR(5))
and commit changes to disk.\& This usually involves installing new packages,
but may also cause other changes to the installed packages.\&
.PP
To upgrade individual packages without modifying \fIworld\fR use \fBapk-fix\fR(8).\&
.PP
By default \fBapk\fR tries to select a set of packages so that all constraints
are satisfied.\& This means that some packages can be held back in an older
version if there is direct or implicit dependencies to the older version.\&
.PP
If a \fIfile\fR is added, a constraint against the package identity hash will
be add.\& This constraint ensure that the exact file gets installed and kept.\&
To later upgrade or downgrade back to a repository version, use
\fBapk upgrade --available\fR.\&
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
\fBapk add\fR supports the commit options described in \fBapk\fR(8), as well as the
following options:
.PP
\fB--initdb\fR
.RS 4
Initialize a new package database.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB--latest\fR, \fB-l\fR
.RS 4
Always choose the latest package by version.\& However, the versions
considered are based on the package pinning.\& Primarily this overrides
the default heuristic and will cause an error to displayed if all
dependencies cannot be satisfied.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB--no-chown\fR
.RS 4
Deperecated alias for --usermode.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB--upgrade\fR, \fB-u\fR
.RS 4
Upgrade \fIpackages\fR and their dependencies.\& Normally \fBapk add\fR will
avoid changing installed package unless it is required by the newly
added \fIpackages\fR or their dependencies.\& This changes the default
preference to upgrading the package to the latest installable version.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB--usermode\fR
.RS 4
Create usermode database with --initdb.\& In usermode, apk will operate
in such a way that root access is not required.\& Currently this implies:
.PD 0
.IP \(bu 4
checking that we are running as non-root
.IP \(bu 4
not changing file owner or group
.IP \(bu 4
not setting system xattrs
.PD
.PP
This implies that the installation might not be fully functional.\&
However, this is useful mode for testing purposes or to create
chroot where some specific applications can run as non-root.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB--virtual\fR, \fB-t\fR \fINAME\fR
.RS 4
Create virtual package \fINAME\fR with given dependencies.\& This new package
will get the \fIpackages\fR as dependencies instead of \fIworld\fR.\& Finally the
\fINAME\fR is added to \fIworld\fR.\& An optional version specifier for the virtual
package can be given via syntax \fINAME\fR=\fIVERSION\fR.\& The version defaults
to synthesized version based on time.\&
.PP
One can use this to ensure that selected set of packages are installed,
and later the temporary modification be undone with \fBapk-del\fR(8) \fINAME\fR
without removing packages that were installed earlier.\&
.RE