Install package as a dependency

Hello, I am coming from Arch Linux and I am trying to find the correct pkg() flag to replicate the pacman -S --asdeps [I]package_name[/I] behavior. Context on what this command is and what am I trying to achieve from the pacman wiki:

Installation reason
The pacman database distinguishes the installed packages in two groups according to the reason why they were installed:

  • explicitly-installed: the packages that were literally passed to a generic pacman -S or -U command;
  • dependencies: the packages that, despite never (in general) having been passed to a pacman installation command, were implicitly installed because required by another package that was explicitly installed.
When installing a package, it is possible to force its installation reason to dependency with:

# pacman -S --asdeps [I]package_name[/I]

[...]

Tip: Installing optional dependencies with --asdeps will cause it such that if you remove orphans, pacman will also remove leftover optional dependencies.

Translating from Arch Linux to FreeBSD:

  • opphan packages in Arch are leaf dependencies in FreeBSD;
  • # pacman -S [I]package_name[/I] is # pkg install [I]package_name[/I]

I'm basically looking to replicate the --asdeps flag behaviour. Thank you!

Disclamer: I am aware that FreeBSD is not GNU/Linux, of FreeBSD's history, and that just because a thing is done in GNU/Linux in a certain way it does not mean it's supposed to be done in the same way in FreeBSD, or that it's supposed to be done at all.
 
If I read the explanation correctly, you're looking for pkg-set(8). Specifically the automatic flag.

Code:
     -A 01, --automatic 01
                Set automatic flag for the package: 0 is not automatic, 1 is
                automatic.  This affects the operation of pkg-autoremove(8).
 
Back
Top