install (1) Linux Manual Page

NAME

install – copy files and set attributes

SYNOPSIS

install [,OPTION/]… [,-T/] ,SOURCE DEST/
install [,OPTION/]… ,SOURCE/… ,DIRECTORY/
install [,OPTION/]… ,-t DIRECTORY SOURCE/…
install [,OPTION/]… ,-d DIRECTORY/…

DESCRIPTION

This install program copies files (often just compiled) into destination locations you choose. If you want to download and install a ready-to-use package on a GNU/Linux system, you should instead be using a package manager like yum(1) or apt-get(1).

In the first three forms, copy SOURCE to DEST or multiple SOURCE(s) to the existing DIRECTORY, while setting permission modes and owner/group. In the 4th form, create all components of the given DIRECTORY(ies).

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

–backup[=,CONTROL/]

make a backup of each existing destination file

-b

like –backup but does not accept an argument

-c

(ignored)

-C, –compare

compare each pair of source and destination files, and in some cases, do not modify the destination at all

-d, –directory

treat all arguments as directory names; create all components of the specified directories

-D

create all leading components of DEST except the last, or all components of –target-directory, then copy SOURCE to DEST

-g, –group=,GROUP/

set group ownership, instead of process’ current group

-m, –mode=,MODE/

set permission mode (as in chmod), instead of rwxr-xr-x

-o, –owner=,OWNER/

set ownership (super-user only)

-p, –preserve-timestamps

apply access/modification times of SOURCE files to corresponding destination files

-s, –strip

strip symbol tables

–strip-program=,PROGRAM/

program used to strip binaries

-S, –suffix=,SUFFIX/

override the usual backup suffix

-t, –target-directory=,DIRECTORY/

copy all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY

-T, –no-target-directory

treat DEST as a normal file

-v, –verbose

print the name of each directory as it is created

–preserve-context

preserve SELinux security context

-Z

set SELinux security context of destination file and each created directory to default type

–context[=,CTX/]

like -Z, or if CTX is specified then set the SELinux or SMACK security context to CTX

–help

display this help and exit

–version

output version information and exit

The backup suffix is ‘~’, unless set with –suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected via the –backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

none, off

never make backups (even if –backup is given)

numbered, t

make numbered backups

existing, nil

numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise

simple, never

always make simple backups

AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/install>
or available locally via: info ‘(coreutils) install invocation’

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