INST(1M) RISC/os Reference Manual INST(1M)
NAME
inst - front-end to tools for installing MIPS software
releases
SYNOPSIS
inst
DESCRIPTION
inst is the top-level command used to install software pack-
aged under the MIPS software packaging system. inst itself
is a simple Bourne shell script, but since it starts the
entire chain of events for installation of a package, this
manual page will treat the entire installation process. It
is recommended that you be familiar with the pkginst(1M)
manual page in order to best understand the material given
below.
By default, if invoked under the ``real'' user system (as
opposed to the miniroot), inst first extracts the instd
packaging information tree from tape, then sets the Pkg and
Pkgroot environment variables, and then starts inst_start.
If invoked under the miniroot (as for a from-scratch install
of a RISC/os release), inst simply sets the Pkg and Pkgroot
environment variables and then starts the script inst_start.
Once inst_start is running, the installation procedure is
interactive. Actions taken by the program will vary depend-
ing on the software package being installed, whether the
installation is being performed ``from scratch'' or as an
update, and the hardware configuration of the target system.
In general, the procedure is intended to be self-
explanatory, beyond the general information given on this
manual page.
PROMPTS
All prompts to the user include a default answer, shown in
square brackets ( ``[ ]''). There are two general forms of
prompts. In the first, a list of choices is given in
parenthesis before the default choice. To accept the default
choice, simply press return in response to the prompt; to
choose one of the other choices listed, type the choice, as
shown in the parenthesized list, and then press return. An
example prompt in the first form:
Are we having fun yet (y n) [y]?
In the second form, the list of choices is not presented,
although a default choice is still presented. As in the
first form, simply pressing return will accept the default
choice; if you do not want the default, type your answer and
then press return. An example prompt in the second form:
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Let who sing [Phil]?
OPTIONS
There are several environment variables which can be set
prior to invoking inst to select options in the installation
procedure.
In some cases, the inst command may explicitly ask the
installer for a value for these options. In these cases,
the default value given in the prompt will be taken from the
corresponding environment variable, if it is set.
Please note that all of the variable names begin with an
upper-case letter. The variable names must be typed exactly
as shown.
To set one of these variables from the C-shell (csh), use
the setenv command, ``setenv variable value'' prior to
invoking inst. If you are starting inst from the Bourne
shell (sh), use the variable assignment statement,
``variable=value; export variable'', or set the optional
variables on the inst command line, in the form
``variable=value ... inst''.
Diskcont
This variable informs the installation scripts about
the model of disk controller installed in the system.
This information is needed for scratch installs of
operating system packages. At the time of this writing,
the recognized values are: ``ip3200'' (Interphase
3200), ``ip4200'' (Interphase 4200), ``isc120'' (M/120
SCSI), ``sdc2030'' (RC2030 SCSI), ``ij4210'' (Inter-
phase 4210) and ``in300'' (Introl 300).
Findmods
During update installs (when the Install variable is
set to ``update''), a program called findmods may be
run to identify local files which would be overwritten
during the installation because a file of the same name
is part of the package being installed. The default
value is ``n'', which will inhibit the execution of
findmods. To enable this feature, set Findmods to
``y''.
From This variable selects the media type the release is to
be installed from. It defaults to the proper value for
QIC-24 tape, ``Q24'', which is the media and format in
which MIPS software packages are supplied. Other
recognized values are: ``Q120'' (QIC-120) and ``en''
(for installations performed via the network).
EnTapehost
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When doing a remote tape install, this variable should
be set to the name of the machine on which the tape is
mounted.
Install
This variable selects between the two major installa-
tion modes. It defaults to ``scratch'' for RISC/os
(operating system) packages, and to ``update'' for all
other packages. Refer to the ``UPDATE INSTALLS'' sec-
tion below for more details on the differences between
scratch and update installations.
Smargin
When disk space checking is performed, an extra safety
margin of space is added into the requirements computed
from the .size files supplied with the package; the
variable Smargin controls this margin. It is a
floating-point number expressing a percentage of margin
to allow. The default value is ``0.03'' (3%). The mar-
gin applies to both the number of disk blocks and the
number of inodes computed.
Verbose
Many of the commands executed during installation gen-
erate verbose output. The installation tools are set up
so that the output from the command is redirected to
Verbose. Verbose defaults to ``/dev/null'', so the
lengthy output will be discarded. If you wish to see
the verbose output, you should set this variable to
``/dev/tty''.
UPDATE INSTALLS
The MIPS software packaging system provides for two major
modes of installation. In the first mode, called
``scratch'', it is assumed that no version of the software
package has been previously installed on the target system.
For RISC/os (operating system) packages, this implies that
new filesystems should be made (the newfs command executed).
The second mode, called ``update'', is provided as a means
of simplifying the installation of new releases of a package
which has already been installed on the target system. Since
new filesystems need not be made, local files will not be
disturbed, and the insatallation of a new release will not
disrupt the system.
In ``update'' installations, services are provided beyond
what is done for ``scratch'' installs.
For update installations, a program called preserve is used
to preserve local files so that they cannot be lost when a
file of the same name is installed. preserve knows what
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files to preserve based on two sources of information,
called the default preserve list and the findmods lists.
The default preserve list, supplied with the package, iden-
tifies all files which are present in the release and which
have been deemed likely to have been customized locally
since the previous release was installed, for example, in a
RISC/os (operating system) package, /etc/passwd.
The findmods list, which will be generated only if the Find-
mods variable is set to ``y'' prior to starting the instal-
lation, is created by a program called findmods.
findmods automatically detects files which are present in
the package being installed which are already present on the
target system, and which appear to have been modified
locally. To make the determination of whether a file has
been modified locally, findmods uses the modification times-
tamp for the file, along with information from the file
/etc/installlog. Every release of a MIPS software package
(and subpackage) is assigned a release timestamp; all files
shipped with a particular release bear that release's times-
tamp. The timestamps are recorded in /etc/installlog. With
the information from /etc/installlog findmods need only
examine a file's modification timestamp to determine whether
the file is an unmodified copy from a previous MIPS release.
If not, the file is assumed to have been modified locally,
and its name is placed on the findmods list as input to
preserve.
If you intend to use the findmods service, it is important
that the file /etc/installlog be present, and that the
modification timestamps of files from installed from the
previous release be left undisturbed.
To preserve a file, preserve renames it before files from
the package are installed. Files to be preserved are renamed
to name:ver:, where name is the orginal filename, and ver is
the version number of the package being installed.
The actions taken by preserve can vary from file to file, as
controlled by options present in the preserve lists. In some
cases, the original file will be restored to its original
name after the file from the release has been installed. In
these cases, the file that was installed from the new
release is saved as name:ver+ for later reference. This is
convenient for files such as /etc/passwd, in which it is
usually desirable to keep the local version following an
update.
When considering preserved filenames, it is important to
understand that a preserved local file with name name:ver:
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means that the file was a local version preserved when ver-
sion ver of the subpackage including the file was installed.
It does not mean that the file is from version ver of the
subpackage. However, names of the form name:ver+ do imply
that the file was installed from version ver of the subpack-
age from which it came.
After the installation has completed, a record of all
preserve actions taken during the installation can be found
in the packaging information tree for the package as
.../lib/preserve.log. It is recommended that the system
administrator examine this list and remove any unneeded
preserved files to keep the system from getting cluttered
with them.
For more information on findmods and preserve, please refer
to the findmods(1M) and preserve(1M) manual pages.
SEE ALSO
pkginst(1M), pkg(1M), pkginfo(1M).
pkginfo(4), pkgtape(4) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
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