Optional Package Components

Package Information Files

You can include four optional package information files in your package:

• The compver file

  Defines previous versions of the package that are compatible with this version of your package.

• The depend file

  Indicates other packages that have a special relationship with your package.

• The space file

  Defines disk space requirements for the target environment, beyond what is required by the objects defined in the prototype file. For example, additional space might be needed for files that are dynamically created at installation time.

• The copyright file

  Defines the text for a copyright message that displays at the time of package installation.

Each package information file should have an entry in the prototype file. See Creating Information Files for more information on creating these files.

Package Installation Scripts

Installation scripts are not required. However, you can provide scripts that perform customized actions during the installation of your package. An installation script has the following characteristics:

• The script is composed of Bourne shell commands.

• The script's file permissions should be set to 0644.

• The script does not need to contain the shell identifier (#! /bin/sh).

The four script types are as follows:

• The request script

  The request script requests input from the administrator who is installing the package.

• The checkinstall script

  The checkinstall script performs special file system verification.

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  Note –

  The checkinstall script is only available with the Solaris^TM 2.5 release and compatible releases.

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• Procedure scripts

  Procedure scripts define actions that occur at particular points during package installation and removal. You can create four procedure scripts with these predefined names: preinstall, postinstall, preremove, and postremove.

• Class action scripts

  Class action scripts define a set of actions to be performed on a group of objects.

See Creating Installation Scripts for a more information on installation scripts.