System Administration Guide, Volume 1

Tools for Managing Software

There are three tools for adding and removing software from a system after the Solaris release is installed on a system:

This Tool Enables You To Add, Remove, And Display Package Information...	And You Can ...
Package commands (`pkgadd`, `pkgrm`, `pkginfo`)	Incorporate these commands into scripts, set up optional files to avoid user interaction or perform special checks, and copy software packages to spool directories. If you're already familiar with adding and removing packages with these commands, it's probably easiest for you to continue using them.
Admintool	View the online help that provides general information on using this graphical interface tool. If you're unfamiliar with software package naming conventions, you're uncomfortable using command line options, and you're managing software only on one system at time, it's probably easiest for you to use Admintool to add and remove software.
Solaris Product Registry	Launch an installer to add products.

The table below describes the advantages of using Admintool rather than the pkgadd and pkgrm commands to manage software.

Table 20-1 Admintool Software Management Capabilities


Software Management Tasks	Performed With Admintool?
Add and remove packages on standalone or server systems	Yes
Easily view all installed software	Yes
Easily view and select packages from an installation media	Yes
Add packages to a spool directory	No
Eliminate user interaction by using an administration file	No

In previous Solaris releases, Software Manager (accessed with the swmtool command) was the graphical tool for adding and removing software. If you use the swmtool command on a Solaris 2.5 or compatible system, it will start Admintool.