--- title: "Assembling Virtual Package Contents" order: 5 ---
Virtual packages are essentially references to other packages and resources, and before a virtual package can be consumed, it must first be "assembled" into a regular package.
Assembling a virtual package is essentially following pointers to resources and combining the contents of those resources. Once this is done, it's indistinguishable from a regular package and is therefore no longer considered "virtual". It's therefore a one-way process.
To assemble a virtual package, the following logic must be applied:
hash is specified), and written to the target virtual path. A directory is created if it doesn't exist, and a file is overwritten if it already exists.hash). The contents are then extracted to the target virtual path, overwriting any existing files.hash is specified), and written to the target virtual path. A directory is created if it doesn't exist, and a file is overwritten if it already exists.hash). The contents are then extracted to the target virtual path, overwriting any existing files.