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PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) file format

.tgz · .txz  ·  package (tar wrapper)  ·  introduced 1998 by NetBSD pkgsrc

What is a PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) file?

NetBSD pkgsrc and FreeBSD's pkg use compressed TAR archives with a +CONTENTS manifest at the front to describe their packages. pkg_add or the modern pkg tool installs them. The format is intentionally simple so any Unix system can serve a binary package repository with nothing more than a web server and a directory tree.

Most readers reach this page after double-clicking a .tgz file and finding their operating system unsure what to do with it. The good news: PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) is a well-understood format with mature tooling on every major platform. It is supported in one click by mainstream archivers on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

How to extract a PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) file

Opening a .tgz file is straightforward on every modern operating system. The exact steps depend on which platform you are on:

On Windows

  1. Locate the .tgz file in File Explorer.
  2. Right-click the file. If you have 7-Zip installed, choose 7-Zip → Extract Here. On Windows 11 the built-in extractor handles ZIP, 7z, RAR and several other formats directly through Extract All…
  3. If prompted, pick a destination folder and click Extract.
  4. The extracted files appear in a folder next to the original archive.

On macOS

  1. Find the .tgz file in Finder.
  2. Install The Unarchiver from the Mac App Store, or Keka for both creating and extracting.
  3. Right-click the file → Open With → The Unarchiver (or just double-click after Unarchiver is set as the default).
  4. The extracted folder appears next to the archive.

On Linux

  1. Use your file manager: right-click the archive → Extract Here (file-roller on GNOME, Ark on KDE).
  2. On the command line, run one of: 
    7z x archive.tgz    # works for almost any format
  3. The files appear in the current directory.

How to create a PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) file

To pack files into a .tgz archive, you typically need an archiver that supports writing this format. Not every tool can create every format — for example, only WinRAR can create real RAR files. The sidebar lists the software known to read and write PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD).

On the command line, the canonical create command is:

# Use 7-Zip, PeaZip, or the format's reference tool to create .tgz files.

If you regularly create archives at scale, a dedicated archive automation suite can wrap this command in scheduled jobs, integrity checks, and offsite replication.

Strengths

  • Plain tar.gz / tar.xz
  • Easy to host
  • Cross-BSD compatible

Weaknesses and limitations

  • Less rich metadata than RPM or DEB

Typical use cases

  • NetBSD pkgsrc binaries
  • FreeBSD ports binary packages
  • Solaris userland

Technical details

PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) uses the TAR + GZIP / XZ algorithm and is identified on disk by the magic byte sequence 1F 8B / FD 37 7A 58 5A. The standard MIME type is application/x-bsd-package. The format is an open specification and is free for any use.

Frequently asked questions

Is PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) safe to open?

Archive files are containers — they are only as safe as what they contain. A .tgz from a trusted source is fine; one received from a stranger can hold malicious executables, scripts, or files engineered to exploit bugs in your archiver. Always keep your archiver updated, and never run unknown executables that come out of an archive. A safe workflow is to extract into a sandbox and scan the contents before opening anything.

What is the maximum file size?

Modern implementations support archives in the multi-terabyte range. The practical limit is your filesystem (FAT32 caps at 4 GB; ext4, NTFS, APFS, and exFAT all comfortably handle multi-TB files).

Can I password-protect a PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD)?

Some archivers can wrap PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) files in an encrypted container, but the format itself does not always include built-in encryption. Check your archiver's documentation.

How does PKGINFO (NetBSD pkgsrc / FreeBSD) compare to other formats?

See our format comparison pages such as ZIP vs 7z, ZIP vs RAR, and tar.gz vs tar.xz for side-by-side feature tables.

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