INSTALLSW(8) BSD System Manager's Manual INSTALLSW(8)NAMEinstallsw - install software packages to disk from installation media
SYNOPSISinstallsw [-DELU] [-c path] [-d root_dir] [-h remote_host [-l
remote_user]] [-m cdrom | floppy | tape] [-s d | o | r]
DESCRIPTION
The installsw utility is an interactive program for installing software
packages from floppy disk, tape, or CDROM to a filesystem. The floppy
disk, tape and CDROM may be either on the local computer or on a remote
host. In addition, installsw can be used to delete software packages
that were previously installed.
If no command-line arguments are specified, installsw prompts the user
for all necessary information.
The options are as follows:
-c The -c option specifies the mount point for installation from
CDROM and floppy disks, and the name of the special device when
installing from a tape drive.
-D The -D option specifies that selected packages should be deleted,
not installed. As the programs that perform the deletion are
part of the original software archive, this mode differs little
from the installation mode of the program.
-d The -d option specifies all software packages are installed as if
root_dir were the root of the filesystem, i.e. if no root_dir is
specified, installsw behaves as if a root_dir of / was specified.
-E Treat the user as an expert, minimizing explanations and ques-
tions.
-h The -h option specifies that the installation is being done from
the remote host remote_host, i.e. that the CDROM or floppy is
mounted on a filesystem on the remote host, or that the tape
drive belongs to the remote host.
-L The -L option specifies that the installation is being done from
a local host, i.e. that the CDROM or floppy is mounted on a
filesystem on the local machine, or that the tape drive is a de-
vice on the local machine.
-l By default, installsw uses the current user ID for all commands
executed on the remote host. The -l option permits you to speci-
fy an alternate user ID for this purpose.
-m The -m option specifies the media type: the supported types are
``cdrom'', ``floppy'' and ``tape''.
-s The -s option specifies the packages to be installed, as follows:
r Install the required packages.
d Install the required and desirable packages.
o Install the required, desirable and optional packages.
u Install the packages which are candidates for updating.
If the -s option is specified, there is no further interaction
with the user, and all necessary information must be specified on
the command line, i.e., the -s option requires the -c and -m op-
tions. In addition, if the -s option is specified and the -h op-
tion is not specified, installsw expects the media to be avail-
able on the local machine, as specified by the -c option.
-U The -U option specifies that the user is doing an update, not an
initial install. This causes installsw to pre-select packages
that are candidates for upgrades in the initial screen, and to
warn the user if they select a package which would not normally
be installed during an update.
If the -s option was not specified, and any necessary information is not
specified by command-line options, installsw first prompts the user for
it.
All questions asked by installsw are shown as a question, a default (be-
tween square brackets), and then a colon. Replies are entered on the
same line as the question. If the user types a return (with no other
characters entered), the default is used. Otherwise, the user should
specify a case-insensitive prefix of a possible alternative, e.g. ``cd''
and ``CDROM'' are both acceptable responses when ``cdrom'' is a possible
answer. If installsw is unable to determine the answer intended by the
user, the user is re-prompted for another answer to the same question.
To exit installsw at any time, enter an interrupt from the keyboard, usu-
ally ^C (i.e. control-C, the key generated by entering the control key
and the C key simultaneously). This should only be used if absolutely
necessary once installation or deletion has started, as packages may be
left partially installed or deleted.
Questions asked by installsw include:
1. The media type for the installation. The possible answers are
``cdrom'', ``floppy'' and ``tape''.
2. If the installation is from a remote host, or from the local comput-
er. The possible answers are ``local'' and ``remote''.
3. If the installation is from a remote host, the hostname of the re-
mote host, for example, ``mysystem.bsdi.com''. Note, the user is not
prompted for a user ID to be used on the remote system. If the user
wishes to use a user ID other than their own, the -l option should
be specified.
4. The mount directory (for CDROM or floppy archives) or special device
filename (for tape archives). If installation is from a cdrom or
floppy disk, the pathname is the place where the cdrom or floppy is
mounted, for example /cdrom or /mnt. If installation is from a tape
drive, the name of the special device where the no-rewind tape drive
can be found, for example /dev/nrst0.
The user is not prompted for a non-standard root directory. If the in-
stallation is not intended for the normal filesystem hierarchy, i.e. un-
der /, the -d option should be specified.
During the question/response process, installsw will check the informa-
tion given. For example, when a remote host is specified, installsw will
attempt to contact the remote host. Or, if a CDROM on a remote host is
specified, installsw will attempt to retrieve the ``TRANS.TBL'' file from
the remote host. If these tests fail, the user will be reprompted for
the information that caused the failure.
After the environment has been specified, installsw provides a full-
screen interactive display of the packages that are available to be in-
stalled (or deleted). The name of each package is displayed preceded by
three fields. The first field is a selection letter, from ``a'' to
``z'', and from ``1'' to ``9''. By entering this letter, the user can se-
lect/deselect an individual package.
The second field is a status letter. If the package has been selected,
it is a ``+'' sign. Otherwise, it is blank.
The third field is a status letter, as follows:
* The software package is already installed on the system.
D The package is not installed, and is considered desirable.
R The package is not installed, and is required for BSD/OS to run.
If the third field is empty, it means that the package is not currently
installed, and is completely optional.
The commands that may be entered are:
A Select all normally installed packages. If installsw is upgrading
the system, (the -U option or the -s option with the ``u'' argument
was specified), packages which should only be installed during ini-
tial installation will not be selected by the ``A'' command.
C Deselect all selected packages.
D Select/Deselect the ``desirable'' packages, i.e. those marked with
an ``D'' in the status field. This command is a toggle: if it is
used to add the desirable packages to the list of selected packages,
entering it again will remove the desirable packages from the list
of selected packages.
R Select/Deselect the ``required'' packages, i.e. those marked with an
``R'' in the status field. This command is a toggle: if it is used
to add the required packages to the list of selected packages, en-
tering it again will remove the required packages from the list of
selected packages.
N Move to the next phrase, and attempt to either install or delete the
selected packages.
U Select/Deselect the packages which are candidates for updating.
This command is a toggle: if it is used to add the update packages
to the list of selected packages, entering it again will remove the
update packages from the list of selected packages.
X Exit installsw without further action.
? Display information on a selected package. After entering ``?'',
the user will be prompted for the letter field of the package for
which information is desired. If information for that package is
available, it will be displayed.
^L Control-L (i.e., the key generated by entering the control key and
the ``L'' key simultaneously) will refresh the screen.
If the user is deleting packages, i.e. the -D option was specified, the
``D'', ``R'' and ``U'' commands may not be entered.
If the user is not deleting packages and the -U option was specified, any
packages on the system which are candidates for updating will be automat-
ically selected before the initial selection screen is displayed.
If the user is not deleting packages and the -U option was not specified,
any required and desirable packages not already present on the system
will be automatically selected before the initial selection screen is
displayed.
As packages are selected, the name of the package will be highlighted in
reverse video (if the monitor supports that functionality), and a ``+''
sign will appear in the second field. As packages are deselected, pack-
age names will return to normal display and the ``+'' sign will disap-
pear.
There is one other feature in the display. As packages are selected (or
deselected) a running total of the kilobytes of disk space required by
them is maintained in order to assist the user in deciding what packages
to install (or which packages to delete to free the appropriate amount of
disk space).
When selection is complete, installsw proceeds with package deletion or
installation. As it is possible for the screen to be overwritten by oth-
er utilities, the ``^L'' key may continue to be used during installation
to refresh the screen.
Various utilities are used by installsw to pre-process and extract soft-
ware packages from the archives, and their normal and error output mes-
sages are displayed on the screen as they execute. For more information
as to the meaning of these messages, see the referenced commands' manual
pages.
If the file /var/db/install.log already exists or can be created in the
root tree specified (i.e. /, or the path specified by the -d option),
the attempt to delete or install a package is logged into that file. If
the file is created, it will be created readable and writable by the own-
er and group (as modified by the user's umask).
The four possible log messages are as follows:
package <name> deleted <timestamp>
package <name> delete FAILED <timestamp>
package <name> installed <timestamp>
package <name> install FAILED <timestamp>
In all cases, ``<name>'' is the package name as specified by the second
field of the archive file, and ``<timestamp>'' is the time of deletion or
installation as returned by ctime(3).
Any errors occurring during package deletion or installation cause
installsw to exit without further action, except that end_install scripts
for any packages that were successfully installed will still be executed.
The installsw utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
ARCHIVE FORMAT
The following information is intended to permit users to create their own
software archives for use with the installsw utility.
If installing from a cdrom or floppy, the installsw utility reads the
file PACKAGES/PACKAGES, which must exist in the directory specified by
the user (either using the -c option or as a response to a prompt). If
installing from a tape archive, installsw interprets the first file of
the archive as this file. Each line of the file has eight, blank sepa-
rated fields, which are interpreted as follows:
1. The number of the file. This field is used as the number of the
file on in a tape archive, as well as the order of installation.
The installsw utility will seek forward (or rewind and then seek
forward) to move to the specified file on the tape. Any entries
numbered 0 will be ignored.
2. The name of the file. This field is largely ignored by installsw
with one exception, ``INSTALLSW-SCRIPTS''. See below for more infor-
mation on these files.
3. The kilobytes of disk space required to install the software pack-
age.
4. The type of the file. Currently supported types are:
N Normal.
Z Compressed using the compress(1) utility.
z Compressed using the gzip(1) utility.
5. The ``preference'' of the file. Currently supported preferences
are:
D Desirable.
H Hidden. Any software package flagged as hidden will not be
displayed to the user during package selection.
I Initial. Any software package that should be installed only
during an initial installation and not during an upgrade. If
installsw is upgrading the system, (the -U option or the -s op-
tion with the ``u'' argument was specified), any software pack-
age marked as an initial package will be treated as already in-
stalled. If installsw is not upgrading the system, any soft-
ware package marked as an initial package will be treated as a
required package.
O Optional.
R Required.
6. The root of the installation for this software package.
7. A sentinel file that indicates that the software package has already
been installed.
For a software package to be flagged during package selection as al-
ready installed, the sentinel file must exist, there must be a ref-
erence to the package in the /var/db/install.log file, and the last
reference in that file must be a record of its installation.
For a software package to be flagged before and during package se-
lection as a candidate for updating, the sentinel file must exist,
and the last reference for the package in the /var/db/install.log
file not be a record of its installation.
Note, the /var/db/install.log file relative to the root tree speci-
fied (i.e. /, or the path specified by the -d option) is checked.
As a special case, if installation of a package fails and the sen-
tinel file did not exist before the installation was attempted, the
sentinel file is removed.
8. A short description of the package for display to the user.
Once the file has been read in and interpreted, installsw takes special
actions for an entry in the archive named ``INSTALLSW-SCRIPTS''. If this
entry exists, it is immediately retrieved and extracted into the directo-
ry /var/tmp/installsw.script. It is expected to be a directory hierarchy,
with subdirectories named by the second field of the entries in the PACK-
AGES file. There are six files that installsw treats specially when they
are found in these subdirectories:
delete If this file exists, and the user specifies the -D option to
installsw, the corresponding entry in the software archive is
displayed to the user as part of package selection. If the user
then selects the package, this file is executed. The program may
read from stdin and write to stdout, including terminal control
information. Any non-zero exit status by this script will be re-
flected in the final exit status of installsw.
information
If this file exists, and the user requests information on a pack-
age by using the ? key during package selection, its contents are
displayed to the user. No text formatting or pre-processing is
performed before this display.
begin_install
If this file exists, the user is doing package installation, and
the user selects its corresponding entry during package selec-
tion, this file is executed after the user has finished package
selection but before any packages have been installed. The pro-
gram may read from stdin and write to stdout, including terminal
control information. Any non-zero exit status by this script
will stop packages from being installed, and will be reflected in
the final exit status of installsw.
end_install
If this file exists, the user is doing package installation, the
user selects its corresponding entry during package selection,
and the package is successfully installed, this file is executed
after all selected packages have been installed. The program may
read from stdin and write to stdout, including terminal control
information. Any non-zero exit status by this script will be re-
flected in the final exit status of installsw.
pre_install
If this file exists, the user is doing package installation, and
the user selects its corresponding entry during package selec-
tion, this file is executed before installing the selected pack-
age. The program may write to stdout, but should not attempt to
read from the terminal or send terminal control information. If
this script exits non-zero, the software package is not in-
stalled, and the non-zero exit status will be reflected in the
final exit status of installsw.
post_install
If this file exists, the user is doing package installation, the
user selects its corresponding entry during package selection,
and the package is successfully installed, this file is executed
after the package is installed. The program may write to the
terminal, but should not attempt to read from the terminal or
send terminal control information. Any non-zero exit status by
this script will be reflected in the final exit status of
installsw.
All of the programs are executed with the current directory set to the
directory in which they reside. They may execute other programs, howev-
er, those programs must obey the same guidelines for accessing the termi-
nal as they do.
Before any special files are executed, the environment variable INSTROOT
is set to the root of the installation (i.e. /, or the path specified by
the -d option).
If the user is installing software packages, once the user has completed
the selection phase of installsw, the selected packages are installed in
file number order. To install a selected package, the following steps
occur:
1. If a pre-install script exists, it is run.
2. If the directory named by a path constructed of the user-specified
root directory, suffixed by the root path of the software package
(field 6) doesn't exist, it is created. Any intermediate directo-
ries created as part of this process are created with file permis-
sions as specified by mkdir(1), using the -p option.
3. The installsw utility changes its current working directory to the
directory specified in step 2.
4. If the software archive is being extracted from a cdrom or floppy
filesystem, the archive file is named based on the type of the file
as specified in field 4 of the PACKAGES file.
N If the archive type is N, the file is named by field 2 followed
by the suffix ``.tar''.
Z If the archive type is Z, the file is named by field 2 followed
by the suffix ``.tar.Z''.
z If the archive type is z, the file is named by field 2 followed
by the suffix ``.tar.gz''.
If the software archive is being extracted from a tape, the archive
file is retrieved based on the file number as specified in field 1
of the PACKAGES file.
The archive file is appropriately pre-processed based on its type,
and its contents extracted.
5. If a post-install script exists, it is run.
FILES
/var/tmp/installsw.maptmp
The copy of the ``TRANS.TBL'' file from the remote system.
/var/tmp/installsw.packages
The copy of the ``PACKAGES'' file from the remote system.
/var/tmp/installsw.status
The status of commands executed on both the local and remote host.
/var/tmp/installsw.script
The directory where the ``INSTALLSW-SCRIPTS'' archive entry is ex-
tracted.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/begin_install
The name of the software package script run before any deletion or
installation.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/end_install
The name of the software package script run after all deletion or
installation.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/delete
The name of the software package deletion script.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/information
The name of the software package information file.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/post_install
The name of the software package post-installation script.
/var/tmp/installsw.script/<package>/pre_install
The name of the software package pre-installation script.
<rootdir>/var/db/install.log
The file where successful installation or deletion is logged.
BUGS
Access to remote media by installsw requires that the current (or speci-
fied user) have remote access to the remote host.
The archive format is baroque and unwieldy.
SEE ALSOcompress(1), dd(1), mt(1), pax(1), zcat(1)HISTORY
The utility first appeared in BSD/OS release 0.9.3.
BSDI May 12, 1995 7
