Packages

How do you know what software and utilities are on your system? How do you know what version is in use?

Use of the packaging facility in Solaris Operating Environment is a great way to add software to the system. Rather then browsing through directories and comparing binaries, pkginfo could be used to inspect the versions of custom software added to the systems. With the use of packages, it is not only simple to see what software is on the system, but what version is on the system, Also, upgrades are simplified. Packaging software is right up there with labeling cables ”it really is a must.

The functionality to build packages is built into Solaris Operating Environment. Using the pkgmk and pkgproto commands, packages can be made relatively quickly and easily.

Before packages are built, care should be taken to decide where the code will go on the system. If care isn't taken, the software could end up all over the system. Some people like /usr/local ; others insist that /opt as the best location. Probably the most important thing is to decide where your shop will be putting it's software and always do it the way that was decided to. Make exceptions to this rule minimal.

Packages added with pkgadd can be removed using pkgrm. Using the optional preinstall, postinstall, preremove and postremove scripts can be used to further customize the installation and removal processes.

Packages should be made with meaningful names and versions. If the package is named something like tmp1, it may be of little use when trying to determine what it is, but if the package contains the software name and version number, it becomes much more useful and efficient to determine what it contains. It is this information, the names , versions, and creation dates that will help when trying to determine what's on the system.

Packages should be built so that they work well with Solaris JumpStart server. The packages should be created so that they can be deployed in a "hands-off" environment.

Unfortunately, not every third party software is in package format. Personally, I find this to be a bug.