NAME

install — copy files or make directories with ownership, mode, and preserved context

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Copies files to into with cp, also setting their mode and, optionally, ownership. With -d acts like mkdir -p instead.

You may be looking for apt(1).

OPTIONS

ENVIRONMENT

STRIP

Default strip for -s.

VERSION_CONTROL

Used by cp for -b.

EXIT STATUS

1 if a file didn't exist, cp/mkdir/strip exited non-zero, a file was copied and another would end up in the same path, or the mode, ownership, context, ACLs, or times couldn't be changed.

SEE ALSO

chcon(1), chmod(1), chown(1), cp(1), mkdir(1), strip(1), acl(5)

STANDARDS

Compatible with the GNU system. The -z spelling and STRIP are extensions.

Many systems carry an install with a similar function but wildly differing calling convention. This implementation is just about compatible with 4.4BSD's and its -smog if -c were always set. Avoid its use in portable programs, or, indeed, at all.

HISTORY

Version 5 AT&T UNIX has a /usr/sys/ld, linking the right objects into a kernel. It's entirely likely that this or earlier systems had some sort of build script for other non-single-file utilities, but they've all been lost or stored out-of-tree.

Version 6 AT&T UNIX has /usr/source/run, taking the form

chdir /usr/sys; pwd; time sh run

chdir /usr/source/as; pwd; time sh run
chdir /usr/source/c; pwd; time sh run
same for s1 through s7, &c.

cc -s -f -O ac.c
cmp a.out /usr/bin/ac
cp a.out /usr/bin/ac

as ar.s
strip a.out
cmp a.out /bin/ar
cp a.out /bin/ar

cc -s -O banner.c
cmp a.out /usr/bin/banner
cp a.out /usr/bin/banner

as bas.s
ld -s -n a.out -l
cmp a.out /bin/bas
cp a.out /bin/bas

yacc bc.y
cc -s -O y.tab.c -ly
cmp a.out /usr/bin/bc
cp a.out /usr/bin/bc
rm y.tab.c

Version 7 AT&T UNIX has make(1) and builds/installs the kernel and non-single-file programs with it, Each of /usr/src/lib* gets its own compall and mklib with the expected functionality, but neither of them install the result.

Single-file programs are handled by /usr/src/cmd/cmake, taking advantage of the freshly-variabled-up Bourne sh, with the general form of, though spelled via basename(1):

for s; do
    echo $s:
    case ${s%.[cys]} in
        basename) cc -n -s -O basename.c -o basename ;;
        bc)       yacc bc.y && mv y.tab.c bc.c &&
                  cc -n -s -O bc.c -o bc && rm bc.c ;;
        &c.
    esac
done

Programmer's Workbench (PWB/UNIX) has /sys/source/{lex, sccs4}/install; the former just builds and runs tests and the latter just installs SCCS commands, mode a=rx,u+w, to the first argument.

AT&T System III UNIX has a shell install(1M) ("install commands") in /etc/install with a SYNOPSIS of

New files are reset to mode a=rx,u+w and bin:bin ownership. Existing files retain their mode and ownership; if they have a +t mode, it's cleared, run with no arguments, copied, and then set again.

With -o, backs up existing destinations to OLD${file##*/} before overriding.
By default this is a very talkative process and -s silences everything sans errors.

There's undocumented support for an undocumented /etc/syslist file, which, when guessing where to put file (i.e. not in -cf mode), is first consulted as, effectively grep -m1 "/${file##*/}\$". If that returns a result, that's used instead of finding.

The system is built via mk(8) scripts — distributed as /usr/src/:mk to rebuild and install all, and /usr/src/:mkcmd, /usr/src/:mklib, /usr/src/:mkstand, &c. to rebuild and install specific components. /usr/src/:mkcmd uses a genericised build process per source file type with build parameters extracted from the source, and install(1M) as the installation step for all commands, driven as, essentially,

/etc/install -n /usr/lbin $prog
/etc/install -n /usr/bin $prog

AT&T System V Release 2 UNIX defaults to the current user's user and group ownership, and only uses bin:bin if run by root. -mug are added, with the expected semantics à la -mog, except -ug are ignored with a warning for non-root.

None of this is documented; a similar cpset(1M) ("install object files in binary directories") command appears with a SYNOPSIS of

AT&T System V Release 4 UNIX install(1M), when overriding, now changes the ownership to the current user and group. -mug now also has an effect here (but only if explicitly specified), but only after the first ownership change. The reason this is uncelar. -m is now also ignored if not root. The program now lives in /usr/sbin.

The manual, in place of the default directory list, for some reason has

The 1BSD and 2BSD tapes ship with an install script for the flagship programs and sorted by target directory, respectibely.

3BSD has an undocumented /usr/bin/install, which bears recalling here entirely:

cmd=/bin/mv
case $1 in
        -s )    /usr/bin/strip $2
                shift
                ;;
        -c )    cmd=cp
                shift
esac

if [ ! ${2-""} ]
then    echo 'install: no destination specified.'
        exit 1
fi

$cmd $1 $2
if [ -d $2 ]
then    file=$2/$1
else    file=$2
fi
chmod 755 $file
chown root $file

For a install [-c|-s] file into calling convention, present-day mode setting and present-day-adjacent -s. This is the source version; on the archived system, the chown is no-oped away (making it present-dayer).

4.2BSD finally documents it in install(1) ("install binaries") with a SYNOPSIS of

strip=""
chmod="/bin/chmod 755"
chown="/etc/chown -f root"
chgrp="/bin/chgrp -f staff"

if [ -d $2 ]
then    file=$2/$1
else    file=$2
fi
/bin/rm -f $file
$cmd $1 $file
if [ $strip ]
then    $strip $file
fi
$chown $file
$chgrp $file
$chmod $file

-c is unchanged (except that more than one flag may be specified), -s sets strip to /bin/strip, -mog work in the expected way. -m is as present-day (except it doesn't start with a 0 mode); -og would be if the default were empty.

4.3BSD adds a -f to chmod, and forbids multiple -cs, because without -c, the original is now stripped before being moved.

Through making the -d branch file=$2/`basename $1`, install s1/cp /bin is allowed and works to install s1/cp as /bin/cp instead of failing to copy to /bin/s1/cp. None of this is documented.

4.4BSD sees a C implementation with a present-day -sog (though they need to be specified by name) and a SYNOPSIS of

The file flags mechanism is new in 4.4BSD and works here like you'd expect. Non-regular-file files are rejected, unless they're /dev/null (the latter part is explicitly documented for making empty files). The HISTORY section says that "The install utility appeared in 4.2BSD.", a blatant lie by like four years.

AT&T System V Release 4 UNIX includes a BSD install in /usr/ucb, based on a C version that pre-dates the first appearance of the C implementation in 4.3BSD-Tahoe by a full year. It boasts a usage string of

sprintf(buf, "strip %s", path);
system(buf);