Example—Modifying a File

Description

An entry is being added to a table, or the object is a new table which is likely to be modified by other programs or packages.

Implementation

Define the object as file type e and belonging to the build, awk, or sed class. The script that performs this task must remove itself as effectively as it adds itself.

Example

An entry needs to be added to /etc/vfstab in support of the new solid state hard disk.

The entry in the pkgmap file might be

1 e sed /etc/vfstab ? ? ?

The request script asks the operator if /etc/vfstab should be modified by the package. If the operator answers “no” then the request script will print instructions on how to do the job manually and will execute

echo "CLASSES=none" >> $1

If the operator answers “yes” then it executes

echo "CLASSES=none sed" >> $1

which activates the class action script that will make the necessary modifications. The sed class means that the package file /etc/vfstab is a sed program which contains both the install and remove operations for the same-named file on the target system.