Museum

Home

Lab Overview

Retrotechnology Articles

Online Manuals

⇒ pkginfo(4) — Dell System V Release 4 Issue 2.2

Media Vault

Software Library

Restoration Projects

Artifacts Sought



pkginfo(4)            UNIX System V(Essential Utilities)             pkginfo(4)


NAME
      pkginfo - package characteristics file

DESCRIPTION
      pkginfo is an ASCII file that describes the characteristics of the
      package along with information that helps control the flow of
      installation.  It is created by the software package developer.

      Each entry in the pkginfo file is a line that establishes the value of a
      parameter in the following form:

                      PARAM="value"

      There is no required order in which the parameters must be specified
      within the file.  Each parameter is described below.  Only fields marked
      with an asterisk are mandatory.

      PKG*            Abbreviation for the package being installed, generally
                      three characters in length (for example, dir or pkg).
                      All characters in the abbreviation must be alphanumeric
                      and the first may not be numeric.  The abbreviation is
                      limited to a maximum length of nine characters.  install,
                      new, and all are reserved abbreviations.

      NAME*           Text that specifies the package name (maximum length of
                      256 ASCII characters).

      ARCH*           A comma-separated list of alphanumeric tokens that
                      indicate the architecture (for example, 3B2) associated
                      with the package.  The pkgmk tool may be used to create
                      or modify this value when actually building the package.
                      The maximum length of a token is 16 characters and it
                      cannot include a comma.

      VERSION*        Text that specifies the current version associated with
                      the software package.  The maximum length is 256 ASCII
                      characters and the first character cannot be a left
                      parenthesis.  The pkgmk tool may be used to create or
                      modify this value when actually building the package.

      CATEGORY*       A comma-separated list of categories under which a
                      package may be displayed.  A package must at least belong
                      to the system or application category.  Categories are
                      case-insensitive and may contain only alphanumerics.
                      Each category is limited in length to 16 characters.

      DESC            Text that describes the package (maximum length of 256
                      ASCII characters).

      VENDOR          Used to identify the vendor that holds the software
                      copyright (maximum length of 256 ASCII characters).



10/89                                                                    Page 1







pkginfo(4)            UNIX System V(Essential Utilities)             pkginfo(4)


      HOTLINE         Phone number and/or mailing address where further
                      information may be received or bugs may be reported
                      (maximum length of 256 ASCII characters).

      EMAIL           An electronic address where further information is
                      available or bugs may be reported (maximum length of 256
                      ASCII characters).

      VSTOCK          The vendor stock number, if any, that identifies this
                      product (maximum length of 256 ASCII characters).

      CLASSES         A space-separated list of classes defined for a package.
                      The order of the list determines the order in which the
                      classes are installed.  Classes listed first will be
                      installed first (on a media by media basis).  This
                      parameter may be modified by the request script.

      ISTATES         A list of allowable run states for package installation
                      (for example, "S s 1").

      RSTATES         A list of allowable run states for package removal (for
                      example, "S s 1").

      BASEDIR         The pathname to a default directory where ``relocatable''
                      files may be installed.  If blank, the package is not
                      relocatable and any files that have relative pathnames
                      will not be installed.  An administrator can override the
                      default directory.

      ULIMIT          If set, this parameter is passed as an argument to the
                      ulimit command, which establishes the maximum size of a
                      file during installation.

      ORDER           A list of classes defining the order in which they should
                      be put on the medium.  Used by pkgmk in creating the
                      package.  Classes not defined in this field are placed on
                      the medium using the standard ordering procedures.

      MAXINST         The maximum number of package instances that should be
                      allowed on a machine at the same time.  By default, only
                      one instance of a package is allowed.  This parameter
                      must be set in order to have multiple instances of a
                      package.

      PSTAMP          Production stamp used to mark the pkgmap file on the
                      output volumes.  Provides a means for distinguishing
                      between production copies of a version if more than one
                      is in use at a time.  If PSTAMP is not defined, the
                      default is used.  The default consists of the UNIX system
                      machine name followed by the string "YYMMDDHHMM" (year,
                      month, date, hour, minutes).



Page 2                                                                    10/89







pkginfo(4)            UNIX System V(Essential Utilities)             pkginfo(4)


      INTONLY         Indicates that the package should only be installed
                      interactively when set to any non-NULL value.

      PREDEPEND       Used to maintain compatibility with pre-SVR4 package
                      dependency checking.  Pre-SVR4 dependency checks were
                      based on whether or not the name file for the required
                      package existed in the /var/options directory.  This
                      directory is not maintained for SVR4 packages since the
                      depend file is used for checking dependencies.  However,
                      entries can be created in this directory to maintain
                      compatibility.  Setting the PREDEPEND parameter to y or
                      yes creates a /usr/option entry for the package.
                      (Packages that are new for SVR4 do not need to use this
                      parameter.)

EXAMPLES
      Here is a sample pkginfo:
            PKG="oam"
            NAME="OAM Installation Utilities"
            VERSION="3"
            VENDOR="AT&T"
            HOTLINE="1-800-ATT-BUGS"
            EMAIL="attunix!olsen"
            VSTOCK="0122c3f5566"
            CATEGORY="system.essential"
            ISTATES="S 2"
            RSTATES="S 2"

NOTES
      Developers may define their own installation parameters by adding a
      definition to this file.  A developer-defined parameter must begin with a
      capital letter, followed by lowercase letters.






















10/89                                                                    Page 3





Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026