5.17.4.3.2. Using IPK

The opkg application performs runtime package management of IPK packages. You must perform an initial setup for opkg on the target machine if the PACKAGE_FEED_ARCHS, PACKAGE_FEED_BASE_PATHS, and PACKAGE_FEED_URIS variables have not been set or the target image was built before the variables were set.

The opkg application uses configuration files to find available package databases. Thus, you need to create a configuration file inside the /etc/opkg/ direction, which informs opkg of any repository you want to use.

As an example, suppose you are serving packages from a ipk/ directory containing the i586, all, and qemux86 databases through an HTTP server named my.server. On the target, create a configuration file (e.g. my_repo.conf) inside the /etc/opkg/ directory containing the following:

     src/gz all http://my.server/ipk/all
     src/gz i586 http://my.server/ipk/i586
     src/gz qemux86 http://my.server/ipk/qemux86
                        

Next, instruct opkg to fetch the repository information:

     # opkg update
                        

The opkg application is now able to find, install, and upgrade packages from the specified repository.