Adding Packages or Patches With a Finish Script

You can create a finish script to automatically add packages or patches after Solaris is installed on a system. Adding packages in this way not only saves time, but ensures consistency in what packages and patches are installed on different systems at your site.

When using the pkgadd(1M) or patchadd(1M) commands in your finish scripts, use the -R option to specify /a as the root path.

Example 19–1 shows an example of a finish script that adds packages.

Example 19–1 Adding Packages With a Finish Script

  #!/bin/sh
 
  BASE=/a
  MNT=/a/mnt
  ADMIN_FILE=/a/tmp/admin
 
  mkdir ${MNT}
  mount -f nfs sherlock:/export/package ${MNT}  [Mounts a directory on a server that contains the package
to install.] 
  cat >${ADMIN_FILE} <<DONT_ASK  [Creates a temporary package administration file, admin, to force the pkgadd(1M) command not to perform checks (and prompt
for questions) when installing a package. This enables you to maintain a hands-off
installation when you are adding packages.] 
  mail=root
  instance=overwrite
  partial=nocheck
  runlevel=nocheck
  idepend=nocheck
  rdepend=nocheck
  space=ask
  setuid=nocheck
  conflict=nocheck
  action=nocheck
  basedir=default
  DONT_ASK
 
  /usr/sbin/pkgadd -a ${ADMIN_FILE} -d ${MNT} -R ${BASE} SUNWxyz  [Adds the package by using the -a option (specifying
the package administration file) and the -R option
(specifying the root path).] 
 
  umount ${MNT}
  rmdir ${MNT}

In the past, the chroot(1M) command was used with the pkgadd and patchadd commands in the finish script environment. In the rare instances in which some packages or patches do not work with the -R option, you must create a dummy /etc/mnttab file in the /a root path before issuing the chroot command.

To create a dummy /etc/mnttab file, add the following line to your finish script:

cp /etc/mnttab /a/etc/mnttab