alt Hacker NewsWhat the heck is /pkg?
Comments
> It’s also not clear what the “pmk” in /etc/paths.d/10-pmk-global refers to.
Maybe package management kit, if we go by recent Apple naming conventions.
So they might be aiming for their own brew? Or is there some expectation for a different thing altogether?
As a NetBSD user, I would guess it is for use with pkgsrc. That would be great for mac people if my wild guess is correct.
> I only started looking into this when I noticed an unfamiliar entry starting with /pkg in my PATH. I assumed something had gone awry. Then I saw that there was, indeed, a /pkg directory in the root of my filesystem. [Emphasis mine —JvD]
See, that's your problem: you think of it as your PATH and your filesystem. But it's actually Apple's and Apple's macOS's filesystem and PATH variable. They may allow you to use those to e.g. store your data and operate on it, but mostly it belongs to them, so they arrange it as they see it better fitting them. And of course, they don't really owe you an explanation of their design decisions, especially such non-user facing ones.
May or may not be /s
> "Turns out, this is part of macOS 27.0…"
Part of macOS 26.4, in fact: https://eclecticlight.co/2026/09/19/macos-tahoe-26-4-changed... "The layout of those hasn’t changed in over six years up to and including macOS Tahoe 26.3.1, but has altered in 26.4 and Golden Gate, with the addition of a new firmlinked directory pkg."
Apple doesn't do this stuff lightly. A search of WWDC sessions doesn't mention /pkg specifically, but I'd bet it's related to this: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/206/?time=6...