Installation Guide

Appendix A. Additional Software Product Packaging Concepts

This appendix discusses concepts regarding additional software product packaging.

Fileset Installation Packaging

The installation packaging of each fileset in a product can be divided into three parts. These parts include the usr, root, and share parts. Although this can add further complexity to the understanding of the packaging, this parceling of a software product is necessary for the product to be used by diskless and dataless clients in AIX 5.1. Because they are parceled, a product can be installed on one machine (called the server) and then be used remotely by other machines on a network (called the clients).

Note: The usr and root parts of a product are packaged in the same installable package.

usr part

The usr part of a software product contains the part of the product that can be shared by machines that have the same hardware architecture. Most of the software that is part of a product usually falls into this category.

In a standard system, the usr parts of products are stored in the /usr file tree. For example, the ls command would be in the /usr/bin/ls file.

root part

Every product has a usr part. The root part of a software product contains the part of the product that cannot be shared. The root part of a product is optional because many products may not have any files that need to be specific to each individual machine.

In a client/server environment, these are the files for which there must be a unique copy for each client of a server. Most of the root software is associated with the configuration of the machine or product.

In a standard system, the root parts of a product are stored in the root (/) file tree. The /etc/objrepos directory contains the root part of an installable software product's vital product data (VPD).

share part

The share part of a software product contains the part of the product that can be shared among machines, even if they have different hardware architectures, which can include nonexecutable text or data files. For example, the share part of a product might contain documentation written in ASCII text or data files containing special fonts.

The share part of a product is optional because many products might not have any files that can be shared among different hardware platforms. The share part of a product is always packaged in a separately installable package.

In a standard system, the share parts of products are usually stored in the /usr/share file tree. For example, a dictionary database might be stored in the /usr/share/dict/words file.

Bundle Packaging

The Web-based System Manager and the SMIT Install application look for bundles in /usr/sys/inst.data/sys_bundles and in /usr/sys/inst.data/user_bundles. The sys_bundles location is typically reserved for system-defined bundles (those which come with AIX). Users can create their own bundle files in the user_bundles directory.

The bundle definition file name must end in .bnd, because the AIX installation interfaces that process bundles recognize only bundle files that end in .bnd. Use any editor to create bundle files, which can contain comments and fileset names. Lines beginning with the pound sign (#) are recognized as comments and are ignored by the bundle processing code. When you have completed your list of filesets, save the file and make sure the file has the appropriate read permission. Invoking a bundle installation interface displays your bundle without the .bnd extension.

The following are examples of the predefined bundles:

Client Bundle. A collection of commonly installed software packages for single-user machines running AIX in a standalone or networked client environment. This bundle minimizes disk utilization by only installing software required for a single-user machine rather than installing server code and the other software available on the installation media.
Server Bundle. A collection of software packages for machines running AIX in a multiuser standalone or networked environment. This bundle emphasizes functionality over disk utilization.
Application Development Bundle. A collection of software packages used for developing application programs.
Hardware Diagnostic Bundle. A collection of software packages that provides hardware diagnostic tools.
Graphics_Startup Bundle. A collection of software packages that provides support of graphical environments. Graphical support may be automatically installed on some systems during BOS installation.

Migration Bundle. This bundle is created when there was not enough disk space available to complete a Migration Installation during the BOS installation process. The bundle consists of a collection of software packages that must be installed to complete your migration. You must install this bundle to complete the Migration Installation. Install the bundle using the smit update_all fast path.
You may also need to install the Graphics_Startup Bundle.

Note: Some system bundles might refer to installation images that are spread across multiple media. If you see errors indicating that filesets could not be found on the media you are using, insert the media containing the missing filesets and retry the bundle installation. For example, the Client Bundle might contain a web browser package that exists on another media. Refer to the bundle files on the system for information about the location of images that are not on the AIX 5.1 media. The information is located in the following directory:
/usr/sys/inst.data/sys_bundles