Oracle Solaris 10 SVR4 and IPS Package Comparison

Review the following information about software packaging in Oracle Solaris 11:

• The SUNW prefix for package names is no longer used. With the introduction of IPS, all software packages are renamed. A set of mappings has been added to the former SVR4 package database for compatibility. The mappings ensure package dependencies are met for administrators who want to install a legacy SVR4 package.

• Certain SVR4 package commands, such as pkgadd, are retained for administering legacy SVR4 packages, but the primary package installation and update interface is now the pkg(1) set of commands. If you previously used the pkgadd command to install a particular package, you can check whether that package is available as an IPS package. The IPS package name will most likely be different.

  Locate an SVR4 package as follows:

  $ pkg info -g http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release/ SUNWcsl
            Name: SUNWcsl
         Summary: 
           State: Not installed (Renamed)
      Renamed to: system/library@0.5.11-0.133
                  consolidation/osnet/osnet-incorporation
       Publisher: solaris
         Version: 0.5.11
   Build Release: 5.11
          Branch: 0.133
  Packaging Date: Wed Oct 27 18:35:58 2010
            Size: 0.00 B
            FMRI: pkg://solaris/SUNWcsl@0.5.11,5.11-0.133:20101027T183558Z

  This output shows that the SVR4 SUNWcsl package has been renamed (Rename) is now the IPS system/library package. If the package you want is not installed, use the pkg install command to install the package:

  $ pkg install system/library

• If an SVR4 package is available as an IPS package, install the IPS package and not the SVR4 package. Installing the IPS package provides many advantages, including that only versions compatible with the rest of the image can be installed and dependencies are automatically checked and updated. See Adding and Updating Oracle Solaris 11.1 Software Packages.

• Certain SVR4 package commands, for example, patchadd, are no longer available. Instead, use the IPS pkg update command. When you use this command, any package dependencies are automatically resolved.

• IPS packages have FMRIs, similar to SMF service names. Package names are also hierarchical instead of abbreviated. As described previously, the core system library package in Oracle Solaris 10 is SUNWcsl but the IPS name is system/library. The FMRI format of system/library is similar to:

  pkg://solaris/system/library@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.1.0.0.24.2:20120919T185104Z

  See Fault Management Resource Identifiers in Adding and Updating Oracle Solaris 11.1 Software Packages.

  ---

  Note - Due to organizational restructuring of the files that are delivered with each package, there is not an exact one-to-one mapping of Oracle Solaris 10 package names to Oracle Solaris 11 package names.

  ---

• Oracle Solaris packages are not split into development, documentation, and runtime components. For example, in Oracle Solaris 10, the standard X11 library (libX11) runtime is in the SUNWxwplt package, while the headers for the same package are in SUNWxwinc, and the documentation is in the SUNWxwpmn package. In Oracle Solaris 11, all of these components are located in the in the pkg:/x11/library/libx11 package. If you want to minimize the system, you can choose to exclude certain components by using the pkg facet command.

  Remove the man pages as follows:

  # pkg change-facet facet.doc.man=false

  Remove the header files as follows:

  # pkg change-facet facet.devel=false

  ---

  Note - These are global settings that remove all of the man pages for all packages and all of the header files for all packages.

  ---

  See Controlling Installation of Optional Components in Adding and Updating Oracle Solaris 11.1 Software Packages.

• SVR4 packaging and patch tools are still supported in Oracle Solaris 10 Containers. These Oracle Solaris 10 branded, non-global zones run on Oracle Solaris 11, utilizing the zones and branded zones technology. See Oracle Solaris 11 Zone Features.

• For SVR4 package to IPS package conversion information, see Converting SVR4 Packages To IPS Packages in Packaging and Delivering Software With the Image Packaging System in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

The following table compares SVR4 package and patch commands with IPS package commands.

Table 6-1 SVR4 and IPS Package Command Equivalents

IPS Installation Package Groups

Oracle Solaris 10 installation methods provide software package clusters that install a group of packages based on the system's purpose, such as minimal network, desktop, developer, and all for servers.

Oracle Solaris 11 provides three group packages that install different sets of packages appropriate for a larger server, a smaller server or non-global zone, or a graphical desktop environment.

The following table describes the group packages that are installed on the system, depending upon the default installation method that is used.

Table 6-2 Oracle Solaris 11 Group Packages Installed by Default

Display package group information as follows:

# pkg info -r *group*

Display the contents of these package groups:

# pkg contents -o fmri -r -t depend pkg-grouping

Determine which package group is currently installed on your system:

# pkg list group/system/\* 

IPS also includes other meta and group packages that can be installed on your system to provide a trusted desktop or multi-user desktop.

If you want to install most packages, similar to installing the Solaris 10 SUNWCall package cluster, consider installing the group/system/solaris-large-server package group. See Listing All Installable Packages in a Group Package in Adding and Updating Oracle Solaris 11.1 Software Packages.