What You Should Know Before Adding or Removing Packages

Before installing or removing packages on your system, you should know:

• Package naming conventions - Sun packages always begin with the prefix SUNW, as in SUNWvolr, SUNWadmap, and SUNWab2m. Third-party packages usually begin with a prefix that corresponds to the company's stock symbol.

• What software is already installed - You can use the pkginfo command to determine the software already installed on a system or you can use Admintool to view already installed software.

• How servers and clients share software - Clients may have software that resides partially on a server and partially on the client. If this is the case, adding software for the client requires adding packages to both the server and the client. ("Guidelines for Client Software Administration" describes in more detail how to manage client software.)