Software can have components that are optional and components that are mutually exclusive. Examples of optional components include locales and documentation. Examples of mutually exclusive components include SPARC or x86 and debug or non-debug binaries. In IPS, optional components are called facets and mutually exclusive components are called variants.
You can display the values of variants and facets that are set on the current image, and you can change variants and facets in the current image. To view the current values of the facets and variants set on the image, use the pkg facet and pkg variant commands. To modify the values of the facets and variants set on the image, use the pkg change-facet and pkg change-variant commands. See the pkg(1) man page and the examples below. Changing variants and facets might update a large number of packages and might require a new BE. Use -nv to review what changes will be made before you make any changes.