Software Packages and Clusters

Solaris 7 system software is delivered in units known as packages. A package is a collection of files and directories required for a software product. A cluster is a collection of packages.

The list below describes four clusters. Note that as you progress through the list, each cluster contains the software of the preceding cluster plus additional software.

• Core System Support is the minimum software configuration; it contains only the software necessary to boot and run the Solaris 7 operating environment.

• End User System Support contains Core System Support plus end user support such as the OpenWindows windowing system and the related DeskSet application files; this cluster includes the recommended software for an end user.

• Developer System Support contains End User System Support plus the libraries, include files, and tools needed to develop software in the Solaris 7 operating environment. Compilers and debuggers are not included in the Solaris 7 operating environment.

• Entire Distribution contains the entire Solaris 7 environment.

For more information about this section's topics, see System Administration Guide, Volume I.

Package Administration

Software package management simplifies installing and updating software. Administration is simplified because the method for managing system software and third party applications is now consistent. The tools for creating software packages are in an application packaging tools library.

There are two tools you can use to install and remove packages:

• A graphical user interface program (see the admintool(1M) man page)

• The command-line utilities (see the pkgadd(1M) and pkgrm(1M) man pages)

Graphical User Interface (admintool)

You can install software on your local system or on a remote system with Admintool (started with the admintool command). The default location for the installation is the local system.

Use Admintool to:

• Look at the software installed on the local system

• Install or remove software on a local system

If you want to install or remove the software, you must run Admintool as superuser or as a user in the sysadmin group (group 14). You do not need to be superuser to look at the software packages that are already installed on a system.

Command-Line Utilities

You can use command-line utilities to install, remove, and check the installation of software packages. The commands are:

• pkgadd(1M) for installing a package

• pkgrm(1M) for removing a package

• pkgchk(1M) for checking the installation of a package

• pkginfo(1M) for listing the packages installed on a system

Patch Administration

The patchadd(1M) and patchrm(1M) commands are used to install and remove patches from a Solaris 2 system. You can add one or more patches to a system, client, service, or net install image.

See patchadd(1M) and patchrm(1M) for more information.