This blog post will show you how to build installp packages on AIX. The use of the command mkinstallp is demonstrated by a simple example. More complex packages will be covered in a later article.
It is relatively easy to build installp packages under AIX. This requires the command /usr/sbin/mkinstallp. If the command is not installed, the package bos.adt.insttools must be installed. Building a package requires root privileges.
First of all, we create a directory somewhere, in which the package is to be built:
# mkdir pwrcmps.installp.example
#
The package should contain a small shell script:
# cat <<EOF >hello
#! /bin/ksh
print "hello world"
EOF
# chmod a+x hello
#
The script will later be installed under /usr/local/bin. Files to be installed must be in the same place relative to the build directory (pwrcmps.installp.example in our case), as later relative to the root directory. We therefore create the necessary directory structure and copy the hello script to the appropriate location:
# mkdir –p pwrcmps.installp.example/usr/local/bin
# cp hello pwrcmps.installp.example/usr/local/bin
#
We change to the build directory and start the command mkinstallp to build the package:
# cd pwrcmps.installp.example
# mkinstallp
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example as the base package directory.
Cannot find /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info. Attempting to create.
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info to store package control files.
Cleaning intermediate files from /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info.
************************************************************
| Beginning interactive package input |
| * - required; () - example value; [] - default value |
************************************************************
* Package Name (xyz.net) []: pwrcmps.installp
* Package VRMF (1.0.0.0) []: 1.0.0.0
Update (Y/N) [N]:
Number of filesets in pwrcmps.installp (1) [1]:
Gathering info for new fileset (1 remaining)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Fileset Name (pwrcmps.installp.rte) []: pwrcmps.installp.example
* Fileset VRMF (1.0.0.0) []: 1.0.0.0
* Fileset Description (some text) []: Example Fileset
Do you want to include a copyright file for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Entering information for the USER part liblpp files
Do you want to include an installp pre_i/u script for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to include an installp post_i/u script for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to include a pre-deinstall Script for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to include an installp pre_rm script for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to include an installp config script for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Would you like to create ROOT part? (Y/N) [N]:
Bosboot required (Y/N) [N]:
License agreement acceptance required (Y/N) [N]:
Include license files for pwrcmps.installp.example in this package (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to specify Requisites using a file for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Number of Requisites for pwrcmps.installp.example (1) [0]:
Number of filesystems requiring additional space for pwrcmps.installp.example [0]:
You should include any directories that you are creating in the file count.
(ie: For /usr/proj/myFile, enter 2; 1 for /usr/proj and 1 for /usr/proj/myFile)
Number of USR part files in pwrcmps.installp.example (1) [0]: 1
* 1 of 1. Directory or File Path (/usr/proj/myFile) []: /usr/local/bin/hello
Do you want to make this fileset relocatable? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to include an override inventory file for this fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Do you want to add WPAR attributes to your fileset? (Y/N) [N]:
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info/pwrcmps.installp.template as the template file.
pwrcmps.installp 1.0.0.0 I
processing pwrcmps.installp.example
creating ./.info/liblpp.a
creating ./tmp/pwrcmps.installp.1.0.0.0.bff
#
The built end product can be found in the subdirectory tmp:
# ls –l tmp
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 2560 Sep 25 09:49 pwrcmps.installp.1.0.0.0.bff
#
When creating the package, we have always confirmed the default values for simplicity. The product name is pwrcmps.installp and the file set name is pwrcmps.installp.example, each with version 1.0.0.0. All files and directories of the package must be listed explicitly with absolute path! This can be a bit impractical for a few hundred paths, but it can be simplified and automated by using scripts.
We install the newly generated package once, and check if our shell script is also installed:
# installp -ad tmp/pwrcmps.installp.1.0.0.0.bff all
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Pre-installation Verification...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Verifying selections...done
Verifying requisites...done
Results...
SUCCESSES
---------
Filesets listed in this section passed pre-installation verification
and will be installed.
Selected Filesets
-----------------
pwrcmps.installp.example 1.0.0.0 # Example Fileset
<< End of Success Section >>
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BUILDDATE Verification ...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Verifying build dates...done
FILESET STATISTICS
------------------
1 Selected to be installed, of which:
1 Passed pre-installation verification
----
1 Total to be installed
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Installing Software...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
installp: APPLYING software for:
pwrcmps.installp.example 1.0.0.0
Finished processing all filesets. (Total time: 1 secs).
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Summaries:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Installation Summary
--------------------
Name Level Part Event Result
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
pwrcmps.installp.example 1.0.0.0 USR APPLY SUCCESS
# which hello
/usr/local/bin/hello
# hello
hello world
#
We are now extending our script by printing the message “hello world, how are you“.
# vi usr/local/bin/hello
…
print "hello world, how are you"
#
The package should now be rebuilt, before we want to increase the version to 1.1.0.0. Of course, we could start the command mkinstallp interactively again and enter all the necessary information again, but this is very time consuming and not necessary. The command mkinstallp supports the specification of a template file with all necessary information. When building the first version of our package, such a template file was generated under .info/pwrcmps.installp.template. We copy this template file directly into the build root directory and rename it to template:
# cp .info/pwrcmps.installp.template template
# cat template
Package Name: pwrcmps.installp
Package VRMF: 1.0.0.0
Update: N
Fileset
Fileset Name: pwrcmps.installp.example
Fileset VRMF: 1.0.0.0
Fileset Description: Example Fileset
USRLIBLPPFiles
EOUSRLIBLPPFiles
Bosboot required: N
License agreement acceptance required: N
Include license files in this package: N
Requisites:
USRFiles
/usr/local/bin/hello
EOUSRFiles
ROOT Part: N
ROOTFiles
EOROOTFiles
Relocatable: N
EOFileset
#
The template file contains the information that we gave interactively. In this template file we change the version number from 1.0.0.0 to 1.1.0.0:
# vi template
…
Package VRMF: 1.1.0.0
…
Fileset VRMF: 1.1.0.0
…
#
We now try to build the version 1.1.0.0 by starting mkinstallp with the option -T (for template) and the template file template:
# mkinstallp -T template
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example as the base package directory.
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info to store package control files.
Cleaning intermediate files from /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info.
0503-844 mkinstallp: Cannot overwrite existing
/export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info/pwrcmps.installp.template file.
#
An error message appears, the template file under .info can not be overwritten. The .info directory is created again and again during the build process and can therefore simply be deleted before the next build process is started:
# rm -rf .info
# mkinstallp -T template
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example as the base package directory.
Cannot find /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info. Attempting to create.
Using /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info to store package control files.
Cleaning intermediate files from /export/src/installp/pwrcmps.installp.example/.info.
Using template as the template file.
0503-880 mkinstallp: This file /usr/local/bin/hello
already exists as a system file.
pwrcmps.installp 1.1.0.0 I
processing pwrcmps.installp.example
creating ./.info/liblpp.a
creating ./tmp/pwrcmps.installp.1.1.0.0.bff
#
The new version of the package can be found under tmp as before:
# ls -l tmp
total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 2560 Sep 25 10:08 pwrcmps.installp.1.0.0.0.bff
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 2560 Sep 25 10:35 pwrcmps.installp.1.1.0.0.bff
#
This makes it easy to make changes and then package them.
