Custom JumpStart Program and Solaris Live Upgrade Alternate Root (/) Requirements

An alternate root (/) is a copy of the operating environment, not the currently running system. A package to be used by Live Upgrade or the custom JumpStart program must follow these requirements:

• Enable a custom JumpStart installation or upgrade with no user interaction

• No modification of the current running system, which is necessary when using Solaris Live Upgrade

The following list explains the requirements for alternate root (/) compliance.

• For an installation of an operating system to be successful, packages must recognize and correctly respect alternate root (/) specifiers.

  Packages can include absolute paths in their pkgmap file (package map). If these files exist they are written relative to the -R option of the pkgadd command. Packages that contain both absolute and relative (relocatable) paths can be installed to an alternative root (/) as well. $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT is prepended to both absolute and relocatable files so all paths are resolved properly when being installed by pkgadd.

• Packages being installed using the pkgadd -R option or being removed using the pkgrm -R option, must not alter the currently running system.

  Any procedure scripts that come with the packages being installed with the pkgadd command -R option or being removed using the pkgrm command -R option, must not alter the currently running system. Any installation scripts that you provide, must reference any directory or file prefixed with the $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT variable. The package must write all directories and files with the $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT prefix. The package must not remove directories without a $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT prefix. Table C-2 provides examples of correct scripting syntax.

  Table C-2 Examples of Installation Script Syntax

  Script Type	Correct Syntax	Incorrect Syntax
  Borne shell "if" statement fragments	if [ -f ${PKG_INSTALL_ROOT}\ /etc/ myproduct.conf ] ; then	if [ -f /etc/myproduct.conf ]\ ; \ then
  Removing a file	/bin/rm -f ${PKG_INSTALL_ROOT}\ /etc/myproduct.conf	/bin/rm -f /etc/myproduct.conf
  Changing a file	echo "test=no" ${PKG_INSTALL_ROOT}\ /etc/myproduct.conf	echo "test=no"\ /etc/myproduct.conf

Differences Between $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT and $BASEDIR Overview

$PKG_INSTALL_ROOT is the location of the root (/) file system of the machine to which you are adding the package. This is set to the -R argument to the pkgadd command. For example, if the following command is invoked:

# pkgadd -R /a SUNWvxvm

Then $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT is prepended to /a during the installation of the package.

$BASEDIR points to the relocatable base directory into which relocatable package objects are installed. Only relocatable objects are installed here. Non-relocatable objects (those that have absolute paths in the pkgmap file) are always installed relative to the alternate root (/), but not relative to the $BASEDIR in effect. If a package has no relocatable objects, then the package is said to be an absolute package (or non-relocatable), and $BASEDIR is undefined and not available to package procedure scripts.

For example, suppose a package's pkgmap file has two entries:

1 f none sbin/ls 0555 root sys 3541 12322 1002918510
1 f none /sbin/ls2 0555 root sys 3541 12322 2342423332

And the pkginfo file has a specification for $BASEDIR:

BASEDIR=/opt

If this package is installed with the following command:

# pkgadd -R /a SUNWtest

Then ls is installed in /a/opt/sbin/ls, but ls2 is installed as /a/sbin/ls2.