INSTALL(1)                BSD General Commands Manual               INSTALL(1)

NAME
     install -- install binaries

SYNOPSIS
     install [-bCcMpSsv] [-B suffix] [-f flags] [-g group] [-m mode]
             [-o owner] file1 file2
     install [-bCcMpSsv] [-B suffix] [-f flags] [-g group] [-m mode]
             [-o owner] file1 ... fileN directory
     install -d [-v] [-g group] [-m mode] [-o owner] directory ...

DESCRIPTION
     The file(s) are copied to the target file or directory.  If the destina-
     tion is a directory, then the file is copied into directory with its
     original filename.  If the target file already exists, it is either
     renamed to file.old if the -b option is given or overwritten if permis-
     sions allow.  An alternate backup suffix may be specified via the -B
     option's argument.

     The options are as follows:

     -B suffix
             Use suffix as the backup suffix if -b is given.

     -b      Back up any existing files before overwriting them by renaming
             them to file.old.  See -B for specifying a different backup suf-
             fix.

     -C      Copy the file.  If the target file already exists and the files
             are the same, then don't change the modification time of the tar-
             get.

     -c      Copy the file.  This is actually the default.  The -c option is
             only included for backwards compatibility.

     -d      Create directories.  Missing parent directories are created as
             required.

     -f      Specify the target's file flags; see chflags(1) for a list of
             possible flags and their meanings.

     -g      Specify a group.  A numeric GID is allowed.

     -M      Disable all use of mmap(2).

     -m      Specify an alternate mode.  The default mode is set to rwxr-xr-x
             (0755).  The specified mode may be either an octal or symbolic
             value; see chmod(1) for a description of possible mode values.

     -o      Specify an owner.  A numeric UID is allowed.

     -p      Preserve the modification time.  Copy the file, as if the -C
             (compare and copy) option is specified, except if the target file
             doesn't already exist or is different, then preserve the modifi-
             cation time of the file.

     -S      Safe copy.  Normally, install unlinks an existing target before
             installing the new file.  With the -S flag a temporary file is
             used and then renamed to be the target.  The reason this is safer
             is that if the copy or rename fails, the existing target is left
             untouched.

     -s install exec's the command strip(1) to strip binaries so that
             install can be portable over a large number of systems and binary
             types.

     -v      Causes install to show when -C actually installs something.

     By default, install preserves all file flags, with the exception of the
     ``nodump'' flag.

     The install utility attempts to prevent moving a file onto itself.

     Installing /dev/null creates an empty file.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The install utility exits 0 on success, and 1 otherwise.

FILES
     INS@XXXX  If either -S option is specified, or the -C or -p option is
               used in conjuction with the -s option, temporary files named
               INS@XXXX, where XXXX is decided by mkstemp(3), are created in
               the target directory.

COMPATIBILITY
     Historically install moved files by default.  The default was changed to
     copy in FreeBSD 4.4.

SEE ALSO
     chflags(1), chgrp(1), chmod(1), cp(1), mv(1), strip(1), mmap(2), chown(8)

HISTORY
     The install utility appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     Temporary files may be left in the target directory if install exits
     abnormally.

     File flags cannot be set by fchflags(2) over a NFS file system.  Other
     file systems do not have a concept of flags.  install will only warn when
     flags could not be set on a file system that does not support them.

     install with -v falsely says a file is copied when -C snaps hard links.

BSD                               May 7, 2001                              BSD