Thanks for the details Bart. I'm going to take the liberty of splitting my reply into two, because the first thing, I think deserves a thread by itself...
Bart Smaalders wrote: > Philip Brown wrote: >> Bart Smaalders wrote: >>> Just a few things that are broken w/ SVr4 packages: >>> >>> 1) there is no upgrade >> >> >> Would be useful. Yet, this could be solved by sun providing actions(?) >> for this sort of thing. Or just defining some standards. >> > > The project team is providing actions in IPS. Actions in svr4 packages > are obviously possible, but then it isn't svr4 packaging anymore, is it? > I meant "classes", and/or "action scripts". (technically, the Application Packaging Developer's Guide references some things in SVR4 packaging as as "Class Action Scripts". Sun already provides some "pre-canned" scripts for use with pkgadd, under /usr/sadm/install/scripts. Referenced in APD, as "The Special System Classes" Almost no-one uses them outside sun, because in my opinion, ether they just dont KNOW about them, or the scripts arent as flexible as they might be. So it is better for "those who know", to write their own. (that was certainly the case for me, when I was trying to tackle a few issues in blastwave packages) Where can I find documentation, on what these IPS "actions" are? And beyond that, how what they do, somehow could not be done with a well written SVR4 "class action script"? Additionally.. even outside the realm of "class action scripts"... providing more "reference" scripts to use in pre/postinstall, doesnt make it suddenly "not svr4 packaging". If sun provided such things, then people would use them. It's NO FUN to write a complex pre or postinstall script from scratch. If you write it, and share it, people will use it!! Again: a highly relevant example from blastwave packaging. People DONT WANT TO WRITE PREINSTALL/POSTINSTALL SCRIPTS from scratch. They just need to get a job done. People almost always just look for what other people have written, and use those scripts with little or no modification. The problem is NOT that "if you give people the ability to write scripts, they will write them badly, so we must take away scripting" The real problem, is that SUN does not provide a bundle of useful reference scripts! You complain, "people dont do it right", but you don't show them HOW to "do it right" !! Also, I think I read Stephen claim a day or two ago, that there was support for an "smf class", but "SVR4 packagers werent using it". That seemed to be one of the reasons that he "had" to rewrite everything, because people werent using what was already available to them. However... People cant use what they dont know about... or what apparently doesnt even exist (outside of sun?). I dont see anything with ls /usr/sadm/install/scripts/*smf* So... where's this supposed smf class that people arent using for SVR4 packages? I searched through the Solaris 10 Packaging Guide, at http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-0406?l=enN for smf. "No results were found for your search." Even if smf support isnt doable cleanly as a "class action script"... you could at least provide an includable SH utility or something. After all, that's what sun does with SMF service manifests. People are mostly expected to do ". /lib/svc/share/smf_include.sh" But there's no equivalent utility, or include file, for setting up SMF within packaging, that I can find. It seems highly unreasonable to knock SVR4 pkging as a problem, "because people arent using it right, for zones/SMF".. when Sun DOESNT PROVIDE a "RIGHT" way for people to use ?!?!? _______________________________________________ pkg-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-discuss
