| Preference Name | Function | Default Setting | Value Saved? |
|---|
| abort_on_error (Expert) | Controls whether an automatic installation is aborted if an error occurs. If true (default), an error cancels the installation; if false, the installation continues after the error occurs. Regardless of setting, errors are reported in /var/inst/INSTLOG. | true | yes |
| always_confirm_quit | Controls whether the user is always asked to confirm a quit command. If true, user must confirm a quit; if false (default), no user confirmation is needed after quit. | false | yes |
| autoselect | Controls whether inst does an automatic selection of subsystems during initialization and when a new distribution source is specified. If true (default), inst automatically selects subsystems at these events in the session; if false, no subsystems are automatically selected. | true | yes |
beep
(Expert) | Controls whether an audible signal is given after go processing is complete. If true (default), audible signal rings when go processing finishes; if false, no signal is given. | true | yes |
checkpoint_restart
(Expert) | Set during a session recovery, when the user selects the action to take after an abnormal exit. If true, the user chose to retry the interrupted installation using the selections made during the session; if false (default), the user chose to either return to the previous session without attempting to install selected software or to ignore the previous session completely. | false | no |
checkpoint_selections
(Expert) | Controls whether installation and removal selections are saved in the checkpoint file so they can be used in a session recovery. If true, user selections are saved in the file as soon as they are made; if false (default), pending selections are saved when the user enters the go command. | false | yes |
| confirm_quit | Controls the confirmation prompt for quit commands when selections are pending. If true (default), users are notified if install or removal selections are pending when they enter quit; if false, users are allowed to quit the session without a reminder of pending selections. | true | yes |
| confirm_nfs_installs | Controls whether user is prompted to confirm installation on NFS mounted filesystems. If on (default), user is prompted for confirmation; if off, files are installed in the NFS filesystem if the user has proper permissions. | on | yes |
default_config
(Expert) | Controls handling of configuration files. If true, all configuration files that are in the distribution are installed; if the target version was modified, it is saved in a file with a .O extension. If false (default) and the target version was modified, install the distribution version of the configuration files, appending a .N extension; if the target version was not modified, overwrite it with the new file. | false | yes |
| delayspacecheck | Controls the timing of disk space calculations. If on, disk space calculations are deferred until the go or space commands are entered, and no space information is provided when list or step commands are entered; if off (default), space calculations are performed at the first list, step, or space command, unless disk space checking was done previously. | off | yes |
| detailspacecheck | Controls the source of the data used in space checking. If on, space requirements for files are determined by checking their sizes on the disk; if off (default), file sizes are assumed to be the value that is recorded in the installation history database. Advisory: Set on for slower, more accurate, calculations. | off | yes |
| delay_conflics | Controls whether messages for delayable conflicts (those caused by incompatible software selections), normally posted before installation is performed, are delayed until Inst or Software Manager exit. Valid settings are ask, on, and off. If ask (default), the user is prompted after the first delayable conflict to specify whether subsequent conflict messages should be delayed; the specification remains in effect for the remainder of the session unless the user changes it. If on, delayable conflicts are always postponed until Inst or Software Manager exit. If off, conflicts are presented prior to software installation. | ask | yes |
| dist | Specifies the value of the current distribution source. For live installations, the default value is the previously specified source. For miniroot installations, dist must be specified. Product names are not saved as part of the value. | source | yes |
hide_image_products
(Expert) | Controls whether the image components of each product are displayed when the product list is displayed. If true (default), listings of products do not include their component images. If false, the image components of a product are displayed in product listings. | true | yes |
http_cache
(Expert) | Turns local caching on and off for installations from network servers that require hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). If off (default), file caching is done on the server system; if on, file caching is done on the target system. Advisory: Set to on when network is slow to ensure safe transfers. | off | yes |
http_cache_tmp_dir
(Expert) | Specifies the temporary directory for holding files that are cached during installations from HTTP servers. | /var/tmp | yes |
http_picky
(Expert) | Specifies whether the distribution specification file on the HTTP server must have a special format; this format indicates that software distribution is not centralized in a single directory. If true (default), the distribution specification file has a special format; if false, a normal HTML directory listing, generated by the http server, can be read as a distribution. | true | yes |
inst_initial_level
(Expert) | Controls the initial setting of the view command. If subsystem (default), the output of list displays the subsystems in each product that appears in the listing; if image, the output of list displays the images for each product that appears in the listing; if product, the output of list displays product names without product components. | subsystem | yes |
install_identical_files
(Expert) | Controls whether files are installed if the distribution version appears identical to the version installed on the target. If true, identical distribution files are installed. If false, distribution files are not installed when they appear identical. | true | yes |
install_sites
(Expert) | Contains the list of previous distribution sources (also see the install_site_size preference). | N/A | yes |
| neweroverride | Controls whether older products can replace newer ones. If on, users can install older products in place of new ones; if off (default), older products cannot be installed when a more recent version exists on the target. | off | no |
override_space_check
(Expert) | Controls whether space checking is performed. If true, no space checking is done during an installation, allowing disk overflows. If false (default), space checking is performed. Advisory: Setting true can cause serious installation problems. | false | no |
post_install_dialog
(Expert) | Controls whether a completion notice is posted when an installation is completed. If true (default), a completion notice is posted. If false, the user sees a message only if a reboot is required. | true | yes |
promptforid
(Expert) | Controls whether user is prompted to specify unknown user IDs (UIDs) and group IDs (GIDs). If true, user is prompted for a UID if one is not found in /etc/passwd and a GID if one is not found in /etc/group. If false (default), inst assigns a UID and GID based on the startid preference and writes them to /usr/adm/SYSLOG. | false | yes |
| rulesoverride | Controls whether conflicts can be overwritten. If on, incompatible subsystems and subsystems without prerequisites may be installed on the target. If off (default), incompatibilities and prerequisites must be resolved before installation is done. Advisory: Use on setting with caution. | off | no |
set_path
(Expert) | Specifies the value to use when setting the $PATH variable for exit operations. If default (default), set to a known path; if environment, set path to $PATH environment variable or use the default path if $PATH is not set; if specific, use the value in set_path_specific preference. | default | yes |
set_path_specific
(Expert) | Specifies the path to use for exit operations. Value is a user-supplied string. | N/A | yes |
| shell | Specifies the program to use for the sh and shroot Administrative commands. Usually this value is either /bin/sh or /bin/csh. | /bin/csh | yes |
| short_names | Controls product names in listings. If true, only the shortname is displayed in listings; if false, product descriptions are displayed instead of their shortnames. | false | yes |
| show_absolute_sizes | Sets list and step displays to provide absolute subsystem sizes rather than relative sizes (a comparison between the size of the distribution subsystem and its corresponding subsystem on the target). If on, the absolute subsystem size is displayed; if off (default) the relative size is displayed. Advisory: Default unit of measure is kilobytes. See also display_size. | off | no |
show_files
(Expert) | Controls whether filenames are displayed during installation. If true, each component file in a product is displayed as it is installed; if false (default), the product name is displayed as it is installed. | false | yes |
show_hidden_resources
(Expert) | Controls whether user is shown expert preferences in addition to basic preferences. If set to false (default), user sees only basic preferences; if set to true, user sees expert and basic preferences. | false | yes |
show_lint
(Expert) | Determines whether inconsistencies in the distribution are displayed during reading (for debugging). If true, inconsistencies are displayed; if false (default), inconsistencies are not reported. | false | yes |
space_check
(Expert) | Controls whether space checking is performed. If true (default), space checking is done at various points in the installation (see the delayspacecheck preference). If false, no space checking is performed. Advisory: Setting false can cause serious installation problems. | true | no |
| startid | Sets the starting value of UIDs and GIDs when this information is unknown to inst and promptforid preference is set off (also see promptforid preference). The value of startid is assigned to the first unknown UID and GID; subsequent unknown UIDs and GIDs are incrementa by 1. | 60000 | yes |
| startup_script | Controls how Inst and Software Manager treat the initialization script file, inst.init. If set to prompt (default), the user is prompted before the script file is executed and the README file is displayed if one exists; for non-interactive installations in which the setting is prompt and the initialization file exists, Inst or Software Manager exit. If set to ignore, inst.init is always ignored. If set to execute, inst.init always executes without prompting the user. | prompt | no |
| timeout | Specifies the amount of time, in seconds, that inst allows for a reply from a remote host before retrying the connection. Two retries are done after the initial attempt. Advisory: Set to a value that is suitable for your network. | 120 seconds | yes |
verbose
(Expert) | Works with verbosity preference to control the number of information messages that appear during installation sessions (see also verbosity). If off (default), messages are set to verbosity level 2; if on, messages are set to verbosity level 4. If both verbose and verbosity settings are changed, the most recent setting takes precedence. | off | yes |
verbosity
(Expert) | Controls the number of informational messages that are displayed during an installation session (see also verbose). Valid settings are 0, silent; 2, verbose off; 4, verbose on; 6, all generated messages. When verbose and verbosity are changed, the most recent setting takes precedence. | 2 | yes |
verify_checksum
(Expert) | Controls whether files are verified by checksum as they are uncompressed or read from the archives. If true (default), checksum verification is performed. If false, no checksum verification is made. | true | yes |