| To see what packages are currently installed on a server, you should use the pkginfo command. If you run pkginfo without any options you will get output similar to this: hydrogen# pkginfo system SUNWab2m Solaris Documentation Server Lookup system SUNWadmap System administration applications system SUNWadmc System administration core libraries system SUNWadmr System & Network Administration Root system SUNWarc Archive Libraries system SUNWatfsr AutoFS, (Root) system SUNWatfsu AutoFS, (Usr) system SUNWaudio Audio applications system SUNWbcp SunOS 4.x Binary Compatibility system SUNWbtool CCS tools bundled with SunOS system SUNWcar Core Architecture, (Root) system SUNWcg6 GX (cg6) Device Driver system SUNWcg6h GX (cg6) Header Files system SUNWcpr Suspend, Resume package system SUNWdoc Documentation Tools system SUNWdpl Developer Profiled Libraries system SUNWdtab CDE DTBUILDER system SUNWdtct UTF-8 Code Conversion Tool system SUNWdtdmn CDE daemons system SUNWdtdst CDE Desktop Applications system SUNWdtdte Solaris Desktop Login Environment system SUNWdthe CDE HELP RUNTIME system SUNWdthed CDE HELP DEVELOPER ENVIRONMENT system SUNWxcu4 XCU4 Utilities system SUNWxcu4t XCU4 make and sccs utilities application SUNWxgldg XGL Generic Loadable Libraries application SUNWxgler XGL English Localization application SUNWxglft XGL Stroke Fonts application SUNWxglh XGL Include Files application SUNWxglrt XGL Runtime Environment application SUNWxildh XIL Loadable Pipeline Libraries application SUNWxilh XIL API Header Files <lines removed for clarity> hydrogen# You should find that you have well over 100 packages installed. The reason for this is that Solaris itself is split into many different packages. This enables Solaris to be very flexible by allowing the system administrator control over which parts are installed on each server. For example, a server used for development may require software development tools and the online manuals to be installed, but it would be a waste of disk space to install these on a server that was just being used as a mail gateway. When you install Solaris itself onto a server, you are prompted to select one of five package clusters that are available to install. Each cluster is simply a predefined collection from the individual packages that Solaris is made up of. They are there to enable you to build a system suitable for your needs without your needing to go through a huge amount of trouble or know too much about Solaris at a package level (though you can choose to perform a custom install, if you wish). Table 8.1 contains the cluster names along with a brief description of the type of install they perform. Table 8.1. Solaris Package ClustersCluster Name | Description |
|---|
SUNWCreq | This contains the absolute minimum packages required to run Solaris. This would be chosen if you have a severe shortage of disk space or very limited requirements of the server to be built. | SUNWCuser | This contains the packages recommended for a basic end-user system. It contains all you are likely to need to run an application without extras such as man pages, development tools, and so forth. | SUNWCprog | This should be suitable for a system used by developers. It includes the man pages and various development tools, but not a C compiler (which needs to be purchased separately). | SUNWCall | This cluster contains the complete Solaris installation. It takes longer to install and needs plenty of disk space. | SUNWCXALL | This is the largest cluster. It contains the entire distribution plus Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) packages. |
In the output from pkginfo we see a list of the installed packages along with some basic information. The first column shows the class of package, the second the actual package name, and the remainder of the line the package description. The package name is often called the "package tag." If you wish to go into more detail about an individual package, you can use the "-l" option with pkginfo: hydrogen# pkginfo l SUNWaudio PKGINST: SUNWaudio NAME: Audio applications CATEGORY: system ARCH: sparc VERSION: 3.6.4,REV=1.98.08.13 BASEDIR: / VENDOR: Sun Microsystems, Inc. DESC: Audio binaries PSTAMP: dtbuild37s19980813171753 INSTDATE: Oct 18 2000 23:12 HOTLINE: Please contact your local service provider STATUS: completely installed FILES: 5 installed pathnames 2 shared pathnames 2 directories 3 executables 700 blocks used (approx) hydrogen# The "-l" option tells pkginfo to display all the available information about the package. For most packages, this will provide similar information to the above example, but it depends on how much information was actually provided with the package. Most of this information is fairly self-explanatory, but it is described in more detail when we look at how a package is put together. The information about installed packages is held under the directory /var/sadm/pkg. This location contains a subdirectory for each installed package, and this is where the pkginfo command gets its information. We will have a poke around in here later and see what is actually kept here and why. | 
