inst(1M) inst(1M)
inst - software installation tool
inst [ -anAEHMNQU ] [ -f source ] [ -m hardware=value ] [ -r target ]
[ -u action ] [ -F selections-file ] [ -c command-file ]
[ -I selection ] [ -R selection ] [ -K selection ]
[ -X file ] [ -Y file ] [ -P file ] [ -V preference:value ]
inst is the installation tool used to install, upgrade, or remove
software distributed by Silicon Graphics. There are two ways to run
inst:
- Invoke inst as a command from the shell.
This is known as invoking inst using IRIX Installation and you must be
superuser to do this. Some software cannot be installed using IRIX
Installation (Release Notes and inst itself warn you about this
software) and some commands within inst cannot be performed when using
IRIX Installation. This is due to system integrity problems that can
arise from changing some software or performing certain operations
while that software is running.
- Invoke inst in a standalone mode.
To invoke inst in a standalone mode (known as Miniroot Installation),
you shut down the system to the PROM monitor level (see shutdown(1M)),
and load a collection of files known as the miniroot into the swap
partition of your system disk. The miniroot contains a UNIX kernel,
inst and several other programs. inst is automatically invoked after
you load the miniroot and the / and /usr filesystems are automatically
mounted as /root and /root/usr. New versions of IRIX and some
software options must be installed from the miniroot. Directions for
loading the miniroot are in the IRIX Admin: Software Installation and
Licensing guide.
Note: Loading the miniroot from tape is no longer possible as of IRIX
6.2. It is still possible to install software from tape, but it is
not supported.
The software that you install using inst is known as a software
distribution. Software distributions are in a format defined by Silicon
Graphics and can be read only by inst and swmgr(1m). See the inst_dev
product for creating your own software distributions.
Software distributions can be on 1/4" cartridge tapes, on CD-ROM discs
(CDs), and on disk. inst can read the distribution from a drive (tape,
CD-ROM or disk) mounted on the same workstation that the software will be
installed on (known as the local workstation), or from a tape drive, CDROM
drive or disk on another workstation (known as the remote
workstation) connected to the same network. If a distribution is on
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disk, it is in a directory called a distribution directory.
Note: Distribution tapes must be written and read using the fixed block
device. Variable block mode is not supported. See the tps(7m) man page
for more details.
The software distribution may also be downloaded from a web site, using
the http protocol, provided the library libwio.so is installed on your
system.
In order to install software from a distribution on a remote workstation
(tape, CD-ROM, or distribution directory), the user ID that you use must
have read permission for the device or distribution directory. By
default, inst uses the current user ID and if the connection can't be
established the user ID guest is used. For any user ID this requires
that either there is no password for the account on the remote
workstation or that the user ID has been added to the .rhosts file. See
the example below. A different user ID can be specified with the -f
option (see below) or the from command within inst. The user ID for any
account that does not have a password will work if it is able to read the
distribution directory or device. If an account with an assigned
password must be used, the .rhosts file for that user ID on the remote
workstation must contain the name of the local workstation and the user
ID. For example, the file /usr/people/joe/.rhosts on `bigserver' would
contain the line:
rock.csd.sgi.com joe
When joe wants to install C++ on `rock' and the software distribution for
C++ is located on bigserver in the directory /d/newrelease, he would
enter the command:
inst -f joe@bigserver:/d/newrelease/c++
The .rhosts file must have the correct ownership and permissions for
access to be granted. See the hosts.equiv(4) man page for details.
When using a distribution on a remote workstation, the file
/usr/etc/inetd.conf on the remote workstation and on any gateway
workstations between the local and remote workstation needs to be
modified. See the IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing guide
for details.
When inst first comes up, it displays the default location of the
software distribution and possibly the user ID it is using. When using
IRIX Installation, the default location of the software distribution will
be the location of the software distribution that you last installed.
The -f option (see below) can be used to specify the location of the the
software distribution when IRIX Installation is used. This sets the
default location that will be reported when inst comes up. In the case
of a Miniroot Installation, the default location is wherever the miniroot
came from. If the distribution is none, inst does not load one
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automatically; this is useful for removing or browsing just the installed
software. Within inst, the from command can be used to change the
distribution location.
The inst command line options are:
-a Execute inst from IRIX with no interaction from the user (automatic
mode). No menus appear and the default location of the software
distribution is used unless the -f option is given. The software
that will be installed is selected by inst using an algorithm
described in the IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing
guide.
-A A shorthand for -a -u all.
-f source
Specify the location of the software distribution. The format of
source depends on the location of the distribution and other
factors. Multiple -f arguments are permitted. The possibilities
are:
tape local tape drive
/dev/nrtape local tape drive
/CDROM/dist local CD-ROM drive
distdir local distribution directory distdir
/CDROM/dist/product
installing just product from a local CD-ROM drive
distdir/product installing just product from a local distribution
directory
none for browsing or removing installed software only
server:/dev/tape
tape drive on a remote workstation whose hostname is
server
server:CDdir/dist
CD-ROM drive with the CD mounted at CDdir on a
remote workstation whose hostname is server
server:distdir distribution directory distdir on a remote
workstation whose hostname is server
server:CDdir/dist/product
installing just product from a CD mounted at CDdir
on a remote workstation whose hostname is server
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server:distdir/product
installing just product from a distribution
directory distdir on a remote workstation whose
hostname is server
http://server/distdir/
installing from a web site. This functionality
requires that the libwio.so library be installed on
the local system.
http://server/distdir/file.tardist
download the tardist file, and unpack into a local
temporary directory before installing. Tardist
files may be used in conjunction with a .inst
selections file so that installations initiated from
a web browser will not block the browser during the
download. See -F, TARDIST and SELECTIONS FILE
below.
When using a remote distribution source, you can prepend user@ to
specify a user ID other than guest as discussed above. For example,
to use a remote tape drive on bigserver as user instuser, the -f
argument is instuser@bigserver:/dev/tape.
-r target
Set the effective root directory in which the new software will be
installed. By default, this is /. This option is used to specify
the root of a virtual IRIX tree for diskless prototype trees.
The -r option may also be used to install software somewhere other
than the default location. However, by changing the effective root
directory, the normal installation history database in /var/inst
will not be used, and inst may not be able to to correctly resolve
prerequisite conflicts. Therefore when attempting to manage disk
space, it is usually preferable to avoid using the -r option, and
instead create a symbolic link from the system disk to an option
drive before running inst or Software Manager.
For example, if a product installs files into the directory
/usr/share/foo, you can make a symbolic link (see ln(1)) from
/usr/share/foo to /disk2/usr/share/foo, and then run inst or
Software Manager without the -r option to install the product's
files into /disk2. A record of the installation will still be
maintained under /var/inst.
The -r option cannot be used to create a bootable system disk for
the same or an alternate OS or machine. Such a disk is normally
created by running inst in the miniroot environment.
-I selection
Specify products or subsystems to install, where selection is a
product name, or other expression accepted by the inst install
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command. Multiple expressions can be specified by using a comma
separated list or by using multiple -I options.
-R selection
Specify products or subsystems to remove, where selection is a
product name, or other expression accepted by the inst remove
command. Multiple expressions can be specified by using a comma
separated list or by using multiple -R options.
-K selection
Specify products to keep (don't install or remove), where selection
is a product name, or other expression accepted by the inst keep
command. Multiple expressions can be specified by using a comma
separated list or by using multiple -K options.
-V preference:value
Initialize preference to value. See PREFERENCES.
-F selections-file
The selections-file is used to pre-select subsystems for
installation or removal. A remote selections file is allowed using
user@host:file or http://server/selections.inst. By convention
selections files located on the web have a .inst suffix. See
SELECTIONS FILE below for complete syntax.
-c file
Causes inst to execute commands in the order that they appear in
file. Unless the quit command is used, inst will resume in
interactive mode after processing the file. Control-C can be used
to summon the interrupt menu. Normally Inst will stop processing
the file if an error occurs, and present the interactive menu,
unless the abort_on_error preference is set to off. This option is
ignored by SoftwareManager.
-M Do not display inst output using its built-in pager, and do not show
percent-done messages. Equivalent to setting page_output=off and
show_percent_done=off.
-E Invoke inst_terse_mode. Provides reduced output for scripting.
Equivalent to setting inst_terse_mode=on in the shell environment
before invoking inst. If set on, it minimizes inst output: most
normal status and progress messages are suppressed unless explicitly
asked for, but any warnings, errors, and explicitly requested output
still appear. See the description of the preference inst_terse_mode
within inst or swmgr for more information.
-P file
Specify file to be precious. See PREFERENCES.
-N Disables space-checking by initializing the space_check preference
to off. See PREFERENCES.
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-u action
Specify the type of subsystems to select for installation. The
possible actions are:
new Select all new products for installation.
upgrade Select all upgrade products for installation.
upgrade_and_new Select all new and upgrade products for
installation.
upgrade_or_new Select upgrade (or new, if no upgrades) products
for installation.
upgrade_and_rnds_or_new
Select upgrade and related new default subsystems
(or new defaults, if no upgrades, no downgrades
and no same) for installation. (This is the
default action.)
all Select all products for installation.
-X file
Exclude file during installations and removals. If file is a
directory, its descendents are also excluded. Multiple -X options
are permitted, however wildcards are not. To quickly rebuild a
corrupted installation history, re-install the same versions of your
existing software using -X/ (no files will be touched). See also
the exclusions preference.
-Y file
Install only file during installations and removals. If file is a
directory, only it and its descendents are installed or removed.
Multiple -Y options are permitted, however wildcards are not. See
the restrictions preference.
-U Run the tool in extract_mode, useful for recreating a source tree
from a set of images produced by gendist(1M). See PREFERENCES.
-T Run the tool in symlink_mode, useful for creating a tree of symbolic
links, instead of regular files. See PREFERENCES.
-n Initialize the dryrun preference to on. See PREFERENCES.
-C Install software for all architectures that support diskless
clients. This is normally used only when installing (on the server)
the share tree for diskless clients. It will only work correctly
with products designed for use with diskless clients (that is, the
different hardware-specific files are installed with different names
for each hardware type). Some products install files with the same
name, regardless of architecture, and this option will not allow
such products to install all files in a unique way.
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Normally used by share_inst(1M), this option is used to install
sharable software (including hardware-specific files) for all
architectures listed in the file indicated by the mach_classfile
preference. See PREFERENCES.
-s Install shared software for use by diskless clients. This option is
normally used only by share_inst(1M) when constructing a share-tree
for diskless clients.
-S sharetree
Install software for diskless client, and specify the shared tree.
This option is normally used only by client_inst(1M) when installing
the diskless client-specific software. When this option is given
inst installs the non-sharable software that is used exclusively by
an individual diskless client.
-H This option causes inst to print the hardware variables and then
exit. See the -m option, and the admin hardware command of inst.
-Z Re-writes the installation history in /var/inst using the IRIX 6.2
inst format. Inst will refuse to perform this operation if any
overlay maintenance products are installed. This option is silently
ignored by swmgr.
-Q Execute inst in a special mode in which only rqs information about
each executable is updated into the installation history.
-m hardware=value
The software distribution for some software products contains
several hardware-specific copies of the same file. By default inst
installs the copy that is appropriate for the type of workstation
you are installing on. The -m option is useful when you are
installing software on a disk that will be transferred to a
different type of workstation or when you are extracting files from
a software distribution for a different type of workstation. In
both these cases you would probably also use the -r option. The
inst command admin hardware can be used to view the current hardware
variables in effect.
Acceptable arguments are:
CPUBOARD=cpu
GFXBOARD=gfxboard
MODE=mode
SUBGR=subgr
default
The default keyword substitutes all of the hardware values for the
current system. Refer to your /var/inst/machfile for an example of
the various combinations of hardware configurations currently
defined. The first section of /var/inst/machfile is a mapping from
the data returned by getinvent(1M) to the strings used by the -m
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option.
When the software distribution is a CD in a remote CD-ROM drive, the CD
must be mounted either manually or by mediad(1M). When the software
distribution is a CD in a local CD-ROM drive, the mounting of the CD is
done automatically by inst, or by mediad if it is running.
Unless the -a option is given, a menu of commands will be displayed when
inst is invoked. This menu, the Inst Main Menu, contains all of the
commands that most inst users ever need. The Admin Menu contains lesscommonly
used administrative commands. The View Menu is used to control
the order and presentation of software packages, and disk space
requirements displayed by the list and step commands. The
Interrupt/Error Menu, is displayed automatically when certain error
conditions are encountered during installation. These menus and their
commands are described fully in the IRIX Admin: Software Installation and
Licensing guide.
inst has an extensive online help system. Enter the command help at the
inst prompt to see the list of help topics. To view the information on a
particular topic, enter the command help topic. The topic overview
provides information about what inst does and how to use it. This is a
good starting point for new users.
The IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing guide is the
reference manual for inst. Installation issues for specific products are
discussed in the Release Notes for the different products.
Some inst commands accept keyword arguments as shorthand ways of choosing
groups of subsystems. These keywords may also be used with the -I, -R
and -K command-line otions, in selections files (-F), in command files
(-c), and in the SoftwareManager command-pane.
If more than one keyword is given within a single install, remove, keep,
etc. command, the intersection of the keywords is taken. This means that
the command applies only to subsystems satisfying all of the keywords.
The following list gives each keyword, its abbreviation if it has one,
and a brief description.
all, a All subsystems in "showprods -a" output plus all
subsystems in the software distribution.
clientonly, c All subsystems that are only for nfs-client installs
(see share_inst(1M)).
default, d All subsystems in the distribution that are marked
with "d".
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distribution All subsytems in the current distribution(s).
dist: When followed by a colon (:), selects all subsytems
in any distribution whose name contains the string
dist. Useful when multiple distributions are open.
downgrade, D All subsystems that have a version installed that is
newer than the version in the software distribution.
hardware, h All subsystems containing hardware-specific files.
install, i All subsystems that are selected for installation.
installable, A All subsystems in the software distribution, except
certain patches, hardware-specific and clientonly
subsystems that are inappropriate for the current
target.
uninstallable, X All subsystems in the software distribution that are
inappropriate for the current target.
conflicting, C All subsystems currently selected for installation or
removal, that are causing conflicts. Useful with
"keep conflicting".
prereqs The minimal set of unselected distribution subsystems
that will resolve all current prereq conflicts.
Useful with "install prereqs".
installed, I All subsystems that are installed on the target.
keep, k All installed subsystems that are not selected for
re-installation, replacement or removal.
reboot, b All subsystems that require a reboot to complete
installation.
new, N, n All subsystems that aren't installed, and aren't
upgrades or downgrades of something installed.
notinstalled All subsystems on the target that have neither been
installed nor removed.
patches All patches in the distribution.
patchupgrade, P All patches in the distribution that are upgrades to
installed patches.
removable, L All of the installed subsystems that can be selected
for removal.
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remove, r All of the subsystems that are selected for removal.
removed, R All subsystems that were once installed.
required, q All of the subsystems that are required for proper
operation of the workstation.
same, S, s All subsystems that have an identical version
installed.
standard This keyword is useful for performing a software
upgrade, by using the command sequence keep *
followed by install standard. In Software Manager,
an equivalent option is available on the Install
menu. If the distribution contains any related
(same, upgrade or downgrade) subsystems, then
standard refers to upgrade subsystems plus new,
default sibling subsystems (in the same product) that
were not part of the product the last time they were
installed. However if the distribution contains no
related products (in other words, all products are
new) then standard will select all default
subsystems. Finally, standard will also include any
prerequisite products (see prereqs) but not overlay
subsystems whose base subsystems are missing (see
incompleteoverlays). Standard will not select
downgrade or currently installed (same) subsystems or
subsystems that are incompatible with your hardware.
stale All installed subsystems on the target that must be
re-installed due to hardware changes.
fresh The subset of stale subsystems that are also on the
current distribution. For example, the command
install fresh may be used to re-install software that
has been affected by a hardware upgrade.
target All subsytems on the target.
upgrade, U All subsystems that have a version installed that is
older than the version in the software distribution.
upgraded, u Any subsystem on the target that is being removed as
part of an installation of a related (typically
newer) version of the product from the distribution.
applicablepatches All patches in the distribution that are installable
based on the current selections.
overlays All overlay products in the distribution.
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incompleteoverlays The subset of overlay products which cannot be
installed because the corresponding base product is
not installed, and is not loaded in the distribution
view.
maint This keyword may only be used with the command
"install maint" and is used to switch from the
feature stream to the maintenance stream. This
command will change the setting of the "stream"
preference to "maint", clear the current selections,
set the "neweroverride" preference to "on", and make
the standard upgrade selections (see the standard
keyword), plus downgrade selections, necessary for
switching to the maintenance stream. This command
should only be used when "stream" is currently set to
"feature" and after opening a distribution containing
maintenance products.
feature This keyword may only be used with the command
"install feature" and is used to switch from the
maintenance stream to the feature stream. This
command will change the setting of the "stream"
preference to "feature", clear the current
selections, and make the standard upgrade selections
(see the standard keyword) necessary for switching to
the maintenance streams. This command should only be
used when "stream" is currently set to "maint" and
after opening a distribution containing feature
products.
A selections-file can be used to specify the distribution(s) and the
selections for a single installation session. Blank lines and comment
lines that begin with a pound-sign (#) are ignored. All other lines must
be selections file directives.
The software distribution is specified using the from directive. This
directive can be omitted from the selections file if the distribution has
already been read and the user uses the admin load command. A selections
file can contain multiple distribution directives.
from distribution
from distdir1 distdir2
from /CDROM/dist
from host:distribution
from user@host:distribution
from http://server/distdir/file.tardist
inst preference values can be specified for the installation session by
using the set directive. These directives can appear anywhere in the
file and all preference directives are interpreted together in the order
that they appear.
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set preference value
The product/subsystem selections for the installation session are
specified using the selections directives. The selections directives can
appear anywhere in the file and all selections directives are interpreted
together in the order that they appear. The directives are specified
using their abbreviated forms, and include i (install), r (remove), and k
(do not remove or install). These directives take one or more arguments
that can be a product or subsystem name ((wildcards are permitted), or
selection keyword described above.
i eoe.sw.cdrom
i default eoe.sw32.*
i installable patches
k conflicting
k *
r *.books.* *.man.*
A keepfile can be used to prevent unwanted products from being marked for
default installation. If the file /var/inst/.keepfile exists, its
contents are processed each time a new distribution is loaded. The
keepfile lists new (N) products, images, or subsystems that are not to be
marked for default installation. Upgrade (U) subsystems are not affected
by the keepfile. The keepfile only affects the initial selections made
by inst or swmgr when a distribution is loaded.
The inst command admin updatekeepfile updates the keepfile with respect
to the current selections. New default subsystems that are not selected
for installation are appended to the keepfile.
The keepfile contains one pattern per line. Only the first whitespaceseparated
pattern on each line is considered. A wildcard character, *,
can be used in the pattern. For example eoe.books.* turns off default
installation of all new subsystems in the eoe.books image. Comments
beginning with # and ending with a newline are ignored.
TARDIST FILE
A tardist file is a distribution, encoded as a tar(1m) file. A tardist
file can be used to distribute a small product or set of products for
installation over a network.
When the specified distribution is a tardist file, inst and swmgr unpack
the distribution into a temporary directory (in /var/tmp), and the
tardist file's length is zeroed to save space. Once the installation has
completed, inst and swmgr give you the option of deleting the temporary
distribution or saving it for future use.
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If you decide to save the distribution for later use, it is usually saved
in the directory /usr/dist (normally expected to be a world-writable
directory for unpacking and storing distributions). However, you can
save the distribution to another directory if desired.
Tardist files are intended to be used to install distributions located on
the World Wide Web. Normally a page will be created with a link to a
selections file. The selections file will specify a tardist file (as a
URL). Your web browser (e.g., netscape) will download the selections
file and invoke swmgr. Swmgr will read the selections file, download the
specified tardist file, unpack the distribution, and install the
software.
Tardist files must have the extension .tardist in order to be recognized
as such by inst, swmgr, and web browsers (e.g., netscape).
/var/inst/.swmgrrc most recent values of permanent set options
/var/inst/.keepfile new subsystems not selected for default install
/var/inst/help1 source for online help
/var/inst/INSTLOG log of installation sessions
/var/inst/hist database of the files installed on your workstation
by inst and swmgr.
/var/inst/product binary files, each describing an installed product
/usr/dist directory, writable by the user, in which the
contents of the tardist can be saved
/usr/lib/libwio.so http protocol support libraries
/usr/lib32/libwio.so
A number of preferences are available for customizing inst and swmgr.
Preferences are loaded from /var/inst/.swmgrrc, /.swmgrrc, ~/.swmgrrc,
and from the command line, with command-line definitions having the
highest precedence.
The modifiers in the following descriptions are:
inst-only used only by inst
swmgr-only used only by swmgr
permanent saved across sessions
expert for experts only
readonly cannot be modified by the user
boolean An on/off value (true/false may also be used)
abort_cmdfile_on_error
Abort command-file installation (-c) on errors
boolean, default: true (inst-only expert)
Controls how errors are handled during command-file (-c)
installations. If "on" (the default) the installation stops
after an error and present an interrupt menu. If "off",
commands the remaining commands in the command-file are
executed despite any errors. In all cases errors are
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reported in /var/inst/INSTLOG. See also abort_on_error.
abort_on_error
Abort automatic installation on errors
boolean, default: off (inst-only permanent expert)
Controls how errors are handled during automatic (-a)
installations. If "on" the installation terminates
immediately. If "off" (the default) the installation
continues. In all cases errors are reported in
/var/inst/INSTLOG. See also abort_cmdfile_on_error.
all_architectures
Install all architectures
boolean, default: off (readonly)
Controls whether files for all architectures are installed.
This preference applies during diskless share-tree or
client-tree installations, and can only be set with the -C
command line option. See client_inst(1).
always_confirm_quit
Confirm quit action
boolean, default: off (permanent)
Controls whether the user is always asked for confirmation
of a quit command.
always_page_inst
Page optional output
boolean, default: off (inst-only expert)
Controls whether inst output not specifically requested,
such as progress messages during actual installation, are
paged or displayed non-stop.
autoconfig_overhead
Autoconfig overhead, in bytes
integer, default: 286720 (expert)
Controls the amount of disk space reserved during the
installation for temporary disk space required by
autoconfig(1M) to build a new kernel. Under special
circumstances when a debug kernel is being built, this value
should be doubled. See also "kernel_size_32" and
"kernel_size_64".
autodeselect Automatically de-select failing subsystems
default: confirm, choices: on confirm off
This preference controls whether to skip
installation/removal of subsystems causing certain types of
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errors during the pre-installation check, after "go" or
"start" is issued. If set to "on", and if no conflicts
would result, the failing subsystems are automatically deselected,
and the installation is re-tried. If set to
"confirm" (the default), the user is prompted before
deselecting. If set to "off", no de-selecting is attempted.
Currently only NFS-readonly errors are handled in this
fashion, as may occur when books and manual pages are NFSmounted
from another host, and you attempt to install
documentation locally.
automatic Automatic installation
boolean, default: off
Controls whether the installation proceeds without user
intervention.
autopatchselect
Automatic patch selections
boolean, default: on
Controls whether installable patches are automatically
selected when the appropriate base subsystem is installed or
selected for install. When this preference is "on", patches
marked for install will be automatically deselected when the
associated base subsystem is marked for removal or
deselected for install.
autoselect Automatic installation selections
boolean, default: on
Controls whether initial selections are made from the list
of subsystems to be installed whenever a new distribution is
opened. Unless overridden by other means, such as the -I,
-R, -K, and -u command line options, this will be all
upgrade (U) subsystems and all new default (Nd) subsystems
in the distribution.
background Background the application
boolean, default: on (swmgr-only permanent expert)
Controls whether SoftwareManager is run in the foreground or
in the background when invoked from a shell.
beep Beep when installation completes
boolean, default: on (permanent)
Controls whether or not an audible "beep" signal is issued
whenever an installation is successfully completed.
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busy_check Busy file space checking
boolean, default: on (expert)
Controls whether busy files (those which are currently
accessed by executing processes) are considered during the
pre-installation space check. If busy files are removed or
overwritten during the installation, their disk blocks are
not immediately reclaimed by the operating system. Closing
other applications before a live-install may be required in
order for the disk space requirements to be met. In the
miniroot, the busy check is always skipped.
checkpoint_restart
Automatically restart install if set
boolean, default: off (expert)
Used for checkpoint restarting. Automatically restart
installation if set.
checkpoint_restart_mode
Override normal checkpoint restart mode
string, default: NULL
Specifies the initial user interface mode used for
checkpoint restarting. Brings up SoftwareManager in a
specific mode, overriding any value set by the user in
"custom_startup_mode".
checkpoint_selections
Checkpoint before go as well as during go
boolean, default: off (permanent expert)
Controls whether or not to checkpoint the selections during
the selection process. This is useful when making complex
selections worth saving.
clearprompt Clear the "more?" prompt
boolean, default: on (inst-only permanent)
Controls the way in which some prompts are displayed.
Certain operations use "throw away" prompts that are usually
cleared by backspacing, then overwritten with spaces. For
terminals that can't clear prompts in this way, it is more
appropriate to just move to the next line. Set clearprompt
"off" to use the simple case. It is "on" by default and
saved from session to session.
columns Number of columns in tty display
integer, default: 0 (inst-only permanent)
The "columns" preference is not supported in this release,
but will be supported in a future release. In this release
the number of columns is automatically detected by inst (if
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possible), but cannot be overridden.
confirm_nfs_installs
Confirm installs onto nfs-mounted filesystems
boolean, default: on (permanent)
Controls installs onto nfs-mounted filesystems. If set to
"on", the user is asked to confirm any installations to
nfs-mounted directories located on another host. When set
to "off", inst or SoftwareManager will install on to nfsmounted
filesystems as long as the user has the necessary
permissions.
confirm_quit Confirm quit if pending actions
boolean, default: on (permanent)
Controls whether the user is notified that install/remove
actions are pending when quitting.
custom_startup_mode
SoftwareManager initial selections mode
default: off, choices: off distribution always (permanent
expert)
Controls how SoftwareManager is initially presented.
Possible values are: "off" - always start in automatic mode;
"distribution" - start in custom-selections mode if a
distribution has been specified, otherwise in automatic
mode; "always" - start in custom-selections mode if a
distribution has been specified, otherwise in manageinstalled-software
mode.
debug_menu Debug menu
boolean, default: off (swmgr-only)
Controls whether the debug menu is available in swmgr.
default_config
Force default configuration files
boolean, default: off (permanent expert)
Controls whether to override the normal configuration file
rules, and install ALL the configuration files from the
distribution. If the user has modified these files, they are
first saved with a ".O" suffix.
default_dist The name of the default distribution from which to read.
string, default: NULL (readonly)
If no distribution is supplied by the user on the command
line, this is used as the default installation location if
set. See also "dist" and "distribution".
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default_sharedirs
Default share directories
string, default: /usr (readonly expert)
Contains the list of default share directories used in a
diskless share-tree or client-tree installation.
delay_conflicts
Controls when certain conflicts are presented
default: ask, choices: ask on off
Controls when certain "delayable" conflicts are presented to
the user. Currently, only particular incompat conflicts may
be delayed. The default behavior, "ask", will query the user
when the first delayable conflict is presented. At that
time, the user will have the option of resolving the
conflict before the installation or prior to exiting. In
some installation scenarios, the conflict will have to be
delayed since the subsystem(s) necessary to resolve the
conflict are not on the current distribution. After making a
choice, this behavior will continue for the remainder of the
installation session or until the preference value is
explicitly changed. An "on" value will always present the
delayable conflicts prior to exiting. An "off" selection
will present all conflicts, including the delayable variety,
prior to installation. This preference is not saved from
session to session. To make this preference persistent, add
"delay_conflicts:" and the desired value to the .swmgrrc
file.
delay_exitops
Controls when exitops are executed
boolean, default: off (permanent)
Controls when exitops are executed. When this preference is
"off", the default case, exitops are executed immediately
after all files are installed and before control is returned
to the user. When this preference is "on", the exitops will
not be executed until the user quits. If the user interrupts
an installation and chooses to save the exitops for later
execution, any unexecuted exitops will be executed upon
exiting the application.
delay_idb_read
Delay reading of distribution idb files.
default: default, choices: default on off
If set to "on", inst will delay reading of the distribution
idb files until after the Go/Start command is initiated.
This will result in significant speedup when reading large
distributions and less memory usage by inst or swmgr since
only necessary idb lines will be read into memory. Commands
such as "admin files" that require access to the
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distribution files will cause the required distribution idb
files to be read. If set to "off", the reading of the
distribution idb files will never be delayed. If set to
"default", the reading of distribution idb files will be
delayed unless the installation medium is CD. CDs are
treated specially because delaying the reading of idb files
would require extra CD switches in a multi-CD install. If
the user is installing from only 1 CD at a time or is
comfortable with extra CD switches, this preference may be
set to "on".
delayspacecheck
Delay disk space checks until go
boolean, default: off (permanent)
Controls the timing of disk space calculations. If
"delayspacecheck" is "off", disk space calculation is done
when a "list", "step", or "space" command is given if no
disk space calculation has yet been done for the current
software distribution. If "delayspacecheck" is "on", disk
space calculation is deferred until the "go" or "space"
commands are given. When "delayspacecheck" is "on", no disk
space information is displayed by the "list" or "step"
commands.
detailspacecheck
Detailed space checking
boolean, default: off (permanent)
Controls the data used for disk space calculations. If
"detailspacecheck" is "on", size and type of every file
installed on the system via inst is obtained by stat-ing the
file on the disk. If "detailspacecheck" is "off", the state
of every file is assumed to be the same as that saved in the
history database and that information is used to make the
disk space calculations. "detailspacecheck" is slower, but
more accurate.
disable_keepfile
Suppress keepfile processing
boolean, default: off
If set, the normal keepfile processing is skipped. Entries
in $rbase/var/inst/.keepfile will be ignored and the initial
installation selections will be unaffected by the .keepfile
entries. See the "keepfile" help topic.
disable_prereq_hints
Disable processing of the .prereq_hints file
boolean, default: off
If a .prereq_hints file is found in the distribution
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directory, inst/swmgr will read this file and use the
product/version to distribution/CD mapping to help the user
figure out where prereq'd products reside. Turning this
option on disables this processing.
disable_redirect Ignore redirect file in distribution
boolean, default: off (expert)
Controls behavior when a .redirect file is found in a
distribution. If "on", the .redirect file is evaluated and
the distribution is redirected as specified. If "off" (the
default), the specified distribution is used. Please note
that setting this preference to "off" may result in some
products being skipped if they have been produced for a
newer version of inst or SoftwareManager. You should not
enable this preference unless you explicitly want to attempt
to view products that are not normally intended for
installation on your OS version or hardware platform.
disable_related_dists
Ignore related dists file
boolean, default: off (expert)
If set, inst will ignore any .related_dists file that is
found on the distribution.
disk_avail Override available space on target filesystems
string, default: NULL
This preference specifies the free space (in bytes) used in
disk space calculations. If set to a single value, like
"50M" or "1000" then it will apply to all filesystems. To
set the free space of specific filesystems, use the form:
"fs:size|fs:size|..." For example, a value of
"/:4096|/usr:50M" will result in 4096 bytes available on the
/ filesystem, and 50M on /usr. This preference is used for
debugging only. See also "disk_blocksize" and
"disk_capacity".
disk_blocksize
Override blocksize of target filesystems
string, default: NULL
This preference specifies an alternate blocksize (in bytes)
used in disk space calculations. If set to a single value,
like "1024", or "4k", then it will apply to all filesystems.
To set the blocksize for specific filesystems, use the form:
"fs:blocksize|fs:blocksize|..." For example, a value of
"/:512|/usr:4k" will result in a blocksize of 512 bytes on
the / filesystem, and 4096 byes on the /usr filesystem.
Blocksizes should be a multiple of 512 bytes. This
preference is used for debugging only. See also
"disk_avail" and "disk_capacity".
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disk_capacity
Override capacity of target filesystems
string, default: NULL
This preference specifies an alternate filesystem size (in
bytes) used in disk space calculations. If set to a single
value, like "50M" or "500k" then it will apply to all
filesystems. To set the size of specific filesystems, use
the form: "fs:size|fs:size|..." For example, a value of
"/:300k|/usr:100M|/d2:100000" will result in a size of 300
kilobytes on the / filesystem, 100 megabytes on /usr, and
100000 bytes on /d2. This preference is used for debugging
only. See also "disk_avail" and "disk_blocksize".
diskless Diskless mode
default: none, choices: none share client (readonly)
Controls whether the tool is operating on a normal (nondiskless)
tree, a diskless share tree, or a diskless client
tree.
display_size Units for product sizes
default: kbytes, choices: bytes blocks kbytes (inst-only)
Controls the units (bytes, kilobytes, or 512-byte blocks)
used to display product sizes.
dist Most recent distribution source
string, default: NULL (permanent)
Each time product descriptions are read, the current
software distribution source (see help from) becomes the
value of "dist". (A product name, if included in the "from"
argument, is not saved in "dist".) You can use the value of
"dist" in your "from" commands using the syntax "$dist", for
example "from $dist/eoe2". The command "from none" results
in no distribution being read, and sets the view to target
for browsing or removing installed software. The value of
dist is saved from session to session.
distribution The name of the distribution supplied by the user.
string, default: NULL (readonly)
This is the name of the distribution supplied by the user on
the command line. See also "dist".
dryrun Dryrun mode
boolean, default: off
Controls whether operating in dryrun mode. In this mode, the
names of files which would have otherwise been installed or
removed are displayed. Even with dryrun mode enabled, some
configuration files in $rbase/var/inst may be created or
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written and temp directories (/usr/tmp,/var/tmp) under
$rbase will be created if necessary.
enable_autominiroot_compatibility
Create 6.3/6.4 compatible command file
boolean, default: off
This option controls whether the command file created for
autominiroot installations is compatible with the 6.3/6.4
miniroot. This option is only required if doing an
autominiroot install from CD using a 6.3/6.4 miniroot.
error_coredump
Force coredump on X errors
boolean, default: off (swmgr-only)
Controls whether errors in the X Windows interface result in
an immediate coredump.
exclusions List of excluded files
string, default: NULL (expert)
This preference holds the list of excluded files, separated
by whitespace or the '|' character. Excluded files (and, for
directories, their descendents) are not installed or removed
during a "go". A value of "none" indicates no exclusions
are in effect. The -X command line option may also be used
to specify the exclusions. If this preference is changed
during an interactive session, any previous disk space
calculations may become out of date. Use the "admin recalc"
command in inst or the "Recalculate Disk Space" command in
SoftwareManager to determine the new space requirements.
See also "restrictions".
exitop_limit Exitop output limit
integer, default: 100000 (expert)
This is the maximum output allowed from exitops (shell
commands executed at the end of the installation). Output
over this limit is not displayed or logged. Also applies to
preops and postops (commands executed immediately before or
after a file is installed) and removeops (executed after a
file is removed). Removeops are only executed when a
subsystem is removed, for example with "versions remove",
but not when a subsystem is upgraded.
extract_mode Extract images to original source tree
boolean, default: off (readonly)
Controls whether inst or SoftwareManager operates in extract
mode. In this mode, files are installed under their original
source names (relative to the effective root) used to create
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the images. Only regular files (not directories, symlinks,
etc.) are installed. No conflict checking, rqs processing,
or machtag matching is performed. This preference must be
set before reading the distribution, preferably on the
command line using the -U option.
fullmenu Display hidden commands
boolean, default: off (inst-only permanent)
Controls the list of commands shown in menus. If fullmenu is
"off" (the default), the most commonly used commands are
displayed in the menus. If fullmenu is "on", all commands
that are available are shown in the menus, and all the
hidden commands are displayed, too. This preference changes
only the display of commands, not their availability. It is
"off" by default and saved from session to session.
hide_image_products
Controls the display of image-level products.
boolean, default: on (permanent expert)
If "hide_image_products" is "on" (the default), image-level
products are not displayed. The value of
"hide_image_products" is saved between installation
sessions.
http_picky Require special format distribution file in an HTTP
distribution.
boolean, default: on (permanent expert)
Require special format distribution file in an HTTP
distribution, rather than trying to adapt to any directory
format the HTTP server may see fit to provide.
inst_initial_level
Inst product display level
default: subsystem, choices: product subsystem (permanent
expert)
Controls the initial level of products displayed in inst.
inst_terse_mode
Reduced output for scripting
boolean, default: off (inst-only expert)
If set "on", inst output is minimized: most normal status
and progress messages are suppressed unless explicitly asked
for, but any warnings, errors and explicitly requested
output still appear. Also forces "page_output" "off",
"show_diskspace" "off", "show_legend" "off",
"show_percent_done" "off", "show_files" "off" and
"verbosity" to the value "1". Useful for automated scripts
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driving inst. See also the -F<selections-file> command line
option, the inst "admin save" and "admin load" commands, and
the "verbose" preference.
inst_visible_preferences
Set of optional preferences to display.
multivalue, default: permanent,transient,tty, choices:
permanent transient beginner expert tty gui (inst-only
permanent beginner)
Controls the set of optional preferences displayed with the
"set" command. See also "show_hidden_preferences".
install_identical_files
Install files even if contents are not new
boolean, default: on (permanent expert)
Controls whether to extract files from the distribution even
if the version on disk has the same size and checksum. If
"install_identical_files" is set to "off" installations are
much faster when little has changed from release to release.
Caution: use this preference only if you are comfortable
with the accuracy of the checksum -r test to determine
whether two files of equal length indeed are identical. See
sum(1m).
install_minimum_overlay_files
Control number of files installed during overlay installs
boolean, default: true
This option seeks to minimize the number of files that are
installed when the user installs an overlay product.
Specifically, if the currently installed stream and the
stream to be installed are derived from the same base
product, only the minimum required number of base product
files are installed. When set to false, all the base
product files are reinstalled if the base subsystem is
included in the distribution. If the required base
subsystem is not included in the distribution and this
preference is set to false, the miminum install will still
be attempted if no files are required from the base product.
install_sites
List of former install sites
string, default: NULL (permanent expert)
Controls the list of former installation sites displayed.
install_sites_size
Number of items to keep in the install sites list.
integer, default: 10 (permanent)
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Controls the number of items in the former installation
sites list.
instmode Type of installation
default: prototype, choices: normal prototype client
(expert)
Controls certain details of how the installation is
performed. The value is set automatically when the
installation target is initialized. The "instmode"
preference is exported as the environment variable $instmode
for use by exitops. Durin
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