ezpm: the package manager on the command line #

This page is for administrators who move content or whole sites between installations from the shell. ezpm.php is the command line front end of the package manager. It creates, fills, exports, imports, lists and installs packages (.ezpkg archives holding content, classes, templates and files) without a browser. Since July 2026 (release 6.0.15 development, commits 868f7a625c, 688f48e93f, fc338f04b7, f090f202a1 and others) it is reachable through the Exponential Console, shows how far it has got, installs big packages without locking the database, and can export a whole content tree.

Use it when you move a site or a part of a site between installations, build a demo package, or install a package on a server where the browser would time out.

Run it #

All commands start in the project root.

# list the commands the console knows; ezpm appears under its own namespace
php bin/php/console list ezpm

# the same script, called directly
php ezpm.php help
php ezpm.php help add

php bin/php/console ezpm help add prints the help of the add command; ./console list ezpm shows the one entry the console has for it (checked on 6.0.15: ezpm Create, import, install, list and delete Exponential packages). ezpm.php ran as the operating system user root without --allow-root-user in the check that wrote this page; other scripts do ask for it, see the console.

Global options (from php ezpm.php help):

Commands: create, add, set, delete, export, import, install, list, info, help, and since October 2026 convert, validate and check for the JSON package format: export --format=json, install --as-drafts, see the JSON package format.

Package a part of the content tree #

A content tree package is built in three steps: create, add, export.

# 1. an empty package
php ezpm.php create mypackage 'My package summary' 1.0.1 install

# 2. add a node and everything under it (node id 2 = the content root)
php ezpm.php add mypackage ezcontentobject 2

# 3. write mypackage.ezpkg into a directory
php ezpm.php export mypackage -d var/tmp

add ezcontentobject takes a node id or a URL path as its starting point and these options (all in php ezpm.php help add):

ezcontentsubtree is an alias of ezcontentobject (6ec591c375), which reads better when you mean "this node and its subtree":

php ezpm.php add mypackage ezcontentsubtree /content/my-page --exclude-classes --siteaccess=site

While the package is built, the status line names the phase: Collecting subtree nodes, Fetching node objects, Serializing content objects. A missing initial language or a missing serialized attribute no longer stops the export (August, 752adad843, 8af48c1e59); the item is skipped.

Install a package #

# install into the content root (node 2, the default)
php ezpm.php install mypackage

# install the content objects under another parent node
php ezpm.php install mypackage -d 61
php ezpm.php install mypackage --destination-node-id 61

What the installer does differently since July:

• One run at a time. install and add take a lock (a file named ezpm.lock in the var directory). A second run while the first is going stops with Another ezpm process is currently running. This prevented the database lock wait timeouts two parallel runs caused.
• Fast by design. For install and add the view cache and the template cache are switched off and search indexing is delayed for the run, because no page is served from it. When it is over, rebuild the search index with php bin/php/updatesearchindex.php and clear the caches (php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-all --allow-root-user).
• Batched commits. The content object handler commits the transaction every 50 objects, so a package of tens of thousands of objects does not hold locks for the whole run. Each object is validated first; a failed object is named by its remote id in the error.
• Progress with an estimate. A single status line shows the command, a percentage with current/total, the elapsed time and the expected end time. It respects --quiet.
• No duplicates. Install items are deduplicated, so repeated items do not process twice or add versions.
• Safe without a terminal. Destructive class replacement is skipped when the install is not interactive.
• Dependencies first. Packages listed under requires in the package are installed before the package itself (July 29, cb57cdd026), even when the package is import only. A missing required package is a warning; a failing one stops the install.

Limits #

• The lock is per installation (var/), not per host.
• Delayed indexing means search results appear after you rebuild the index.
• Install into a copy first: the installer writes content.

Related pages #

• The JSON package format: export --format=json, convert, validate, check, install --as-drafts
• A package installer that survives big packages (the browser installer, June 2026)
• Look inside a package, compare it with your site, import single items, package licenses and versions
• Kickstarter CLI (installs a whole site from kickstart.ini), install in one command, clean install defaults
• Console, behaviour changes of July and August 2026
• Changelog 6.0.15
• History: July 2026, August 2026 (export fixes)