Chapter 12. Software Package Administration

The system administrator is responsible for managing all software installed on a system. Installing and removing software is a routine task that is performed frequently. Chapter 6, “Installing the Solaris 9 Software,” described the installation of the Solaris operating system. This chapter explains how to add and remove additional applications after the operating system has already been installed.

Sun and its third-party vendors deliver software products in a form called a software package. The term package refers to a method of distributing and installing software to systems where the products will be used. A package is a collection of files and directories in a defined format that conforms to the application binary Interface (ABI), a supplement to the System V interface definition. The Solaris operating environment provides a set of utilities that interpret the ABI format and also provides the means to install or remove a package or to verify its installation.