Software Distributor

Software Distributor (SD) is the Hewlett-Packard company's name for their HP-UX software package management system.

SD provides a set of tools for creating packages that will install software on a system running the HP-UX operating system. The packages can be grouped together into a software repository called a depot, and a server can be configured to host multiple depots for installation of software packages and even entire systems.

SD was first available with release 10.0 of HP-UX in 1995. Since then it has undergone several enhancements and bug fixes, and now provides a reliable software installation tool. It uses a client-server arrangement to distribute software using a background daemon called swagentd. This agent is started at boot time, and communicates using either the TCP or UDP protocols through RPC. The SD packages are normally stored and transmitted in compressed form, using either the gzip or compress programs.

The tools for performing SD operations are normally accessed from the command line. SD includes the following commands:

These commands include a broad range of command-line options that allow relatively fine control of the task being performed. In addition to command-line programs, several of these tools can also launch GUI versions in an X Window System display. The GUI version of swinstall performs some filtering of the software list to match software packages with the system where it is being run.

The commands log messages to an administrative area, which can be useful for diagnosing installation issues or just tracking what software is loaded or removed.

Software packages are built by means of a specification file, a set of install scripts, and the actual software content. The install scripts are executed during software installation, verification, and removal, and can be used to prepare a system for the software and to perform activation or deactivation of the package. The specification file determines how the software package will be organized, list the locations of the various files to be loaded into the package, restrict the systems on which the package can be installed, and determine the security configuration of the package. It also provides various information about the package, such as a name, version, and description.

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