Package Components

The components of a package fall into two categories: package objects, the application files to be installed, and control files, which control how, where, and if the package is installed.

The control files are also divided into two categories: information files and installation scripts. Some of these control files are required and some are optional.

To package your applications, you must first create the required components, and any optional components, that make up your package. Then you can build the package using the pkgmk command.

To build a package, you must provide the following:

• Package objects (the application software files)

• Two required information files (the pkginfo and prototype files)

• Optional information files and installation scripts

Figure 1-1 describes the contents of a package.

Figure 1-1 The Contents of a Package

Required Package Components

You must create the following components before you build your package:

• Package Objects

  These are the components that make up the application. They can be:

  • Files (executable or data)

  • Directories

  • Named pipes

  • Links

  • Devices

• The pkginfo file

  The pkginfo file is a required package information file defining parameter values such as the package abbreviation, the full package name, and the package architecture. For more information, see "Creating a pkginfo File" and the pkginfo(4) man page.

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  Note -

  There are two pkginfo(1) man pages. The first is a section 1 command, which displays information about installed packages. The second is a section 4 file, which describes the characteristics of a package. When accessing the man pages, be sure to specify from which section you want the man page. For example: man -s 4 pkginfo

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• The prototype file

  The prototype file is a required package information file that lists the components of the package. It describes the location, attributes, and file type for each component within a package.

  In the prototype file, there is one entry for each package object, information file, and installation script. An entry consists of several fields of information describing the object. For more information, see "Creating a prototype File" and the prototype(4) man page.

Optional Package Components

Package Information Files

There are four optional package information files you can include in your package:

• The compver file

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

• The depend file

  Indicates other packages with which this package has special relationships.

• The space file

  Defines disk space requirements for the target environment, beyond what is needed 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 displayed 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.

• It is composed of Bourne shell commands.

• Its file permissions should be set to 0644.

• It 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 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 and compatible releases.

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• Procedure scripts

  Procedure scripts define actions that occur at particular points during package installation and removal. There are four procedure scripts you can create 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.