- admin
- Use the admin command to display the Administrative Commands Menu. This provides a variety of functions that are not needed for most installations.
- conflicts
- Use the conflicts command with no arguments to display the list of conflicts that Inst has detected in your installation selections. Conflicts occur if you select incompatible software for installation, if you omit required selections, or if you omit subsystems that are prerequisites to other selected subsystems.
If a conflict occurs, the go command is not processed; an error message is posted that includes a list of suggested resolutions. Use the conflicts command to specify your choice of conflict resolutions in the conflicts message:
Inst> conflicts 1a 2b 3b
Inst uses conflict choices to modify your original selections and complete the installation. If you prefer, you can modify your selections with install, remove, and keep commands instead of accepting the suggested conflict resolutions.
- from
- Use the from command to specify the location of the software distribution that you wish to install. Your specification can include a single product in the distribution. The syntax of the argument to the from command is explained in "Alternative Ways to Specify a Distribution".
The from command causes four events:
- A connection with the distribution source is established.
- The product descriptions are read from the source.Inst displays the list of product descriptions that it reads.
- The current selections for installation and removal are discarded. If the set preference autoselect is on, Inst uses its algorithms for making initial installation selections. If autoselect is off, nothing is selected for installation (see "The Preferences List" for more information).
- If the delayspacecheck preference is off, disk space is calculated before the output of a list or step command is displayed (see "The Preferences List" for more information).
If the distribution is on a remote server, Inst must have access to the IP address of the server. If the server address is not listed in the target's /etc/hosts file (/etc/hosts or /root/etc/hosts), Inst prompts you for the address.
When Inst is invoked, it displays a message about the default location of the software distribution. If this location is correct, it is not necessary to enter the from command.
- go
- Use the go command to start the installation and removal of files that you selected with install, remove, and keep commands. Before the installation begins, Inst does several checks to verify that your selections are valid. If any check fails, no installations or removals are performed and an error message is displayed.
- help
- Use the help command to display information on a given topic:
Inst> help topic
The topic can be almost any word that appears on a menu, letters that appear in the output of list and step, and the special vocabulary of the Inst application.
If you are unfamiliar with Inst or feel confused, start with help help.
If help output is more than one screenful, a more? prompt appears after one screenful. Press the space bar when you are ready to display more output.
A complete list of topic arguments to help is shown in Table A-1.
Help Topics
| * | deltas | lverror | return |
| .N | devices | main | same |
| .O | dir | maintenance | save |
| ? | dist | miniroot | selection |
| A | distribution | mkfs | set |
| D | files | more | sethostipaddr |
| I | filter | mount | sethostname |
| L | from | movedir | sh |
| N | fsname | names | shroot |
| O | go | networkerror | sizes |
| S | hardware | new | sort |
| T | help | nfs | source |
| U | i | older | space |
| admin | image | options | spaceerror |
| all | incompatible | overview | step |
| args | inst | preferences | subsystem |
| b | install | prerequisite | targ |
| base | installable | product | target |
| beginner | installed | quit | timeouterror |
| check | k | r | umount |
| config | keep | readerror | uninstalled |
| conflicts | kernelerror | recalculate | unmount |
| d | keywords | removable | upgrade |
| date | list | remove | view |
| default | load | request | wilcard |
- install
- Use the install command to select products or product components for installation. The install command queues your request; the installation occurs only after you use the go command. Until you enter the go command, you can change your selections as you wish. Use the keep command to undo an install request.
- keep
- Use the keep command to select products or product components that should be kept as is on the target. Also use the keep command to undo other requests--keep cancels any pending install or remove selections. The existing versions on the target, if any, remain undisturbed.
- list
- Use the list command to show the products or product components that are in the currently available distribution. By default, list displays at the subsystem level. See "Interpreting list Output" for a description of the output. Also see "Using the View Commands Menu" for information on controlling list output.
- quit
- Use quit to exit Inst.
If you made installation or removal selections that were not processed by the go command, Inst reminds you of pending selections and asks you to confirm the quit. If you type yes, the selections are discarded. If you type no, you return to the current menu. You can use list to identify pending selections and go to install or remove them.
Usually, auxiliary commands are executed automatically after you use quit. If you are installing software that requires a system reboot, you will be asked if you are ready to restart the system. If you answer no, the Inst session resumes. If you answer yes, the system reboots and resumes operation using the new software.
- remove
- Use the remove command to select installed products or product components that you wish to remove from the target. The removal does not occur until you enter the go command. Until then, you can change your selections for any or all subsystems. To undo a remove request, use the keep command.
Inst automatically removes old versions of software when it installs a upgrade to the software, so it is not necessary to remove old versions explicitly. Typically, software is removed when it is no longer needed or when the target system is short of disk space.
- set
- Use the set command with no arguments to display a list of preferences that allow you to tailor Inst operation. To change a preference, use set with the preference and its value as arguments:
Inst> set delayspacecheck on
For a list of preferences, see "The Preferences List".
- sh
- Use sh with no arguments to invoke an IRIX shell. Use sh with an IRIX command as its argument to execute the IRIX command. This command displays the contents of the /usr/tmp directory on the target:
Inst> sh ls /usr/tmp
See "The sh and shroot Commands" for additional information.
- shroot
- Use shroot with no arguments to invoke an IRIX shell that executes commands relative to a new root (see the chroot(1M) reference page). Use shroot with an IRIX command as an argument; the command is executed relative to the new root. This command displays the contents of /root/usr/tmp:
Inst> shroot ls /usr/tmp
chrooting to /root
See "The sh and shroot Commands" for additional information.
- step
- Use the step command to display and select individual products or product components. The step command takes keyword arguments. It also takes the name of a product, image, or subsystem as an argument. See "Using step to Make Selections" for additional information on step.
When you use step, Inst reads single keystrokes. The key that you press as each item is displayed determines the action that is taken.
Table A-2 describes the effects of keystrokes during step operations. The items in this table assume that the viewing level is subsystem (see "The level Command" for information on setting viewing levels).
Keys Used in step Mode
| Key | Action |
|---|
| d | Select this subsystem for installation if marked with d |
| f | List the files in this subsystem |
| h | Display help for the step feature |
| i | Select this subsystem for installation |
| j | Retain the current request and display the next subsystem |
| k | Keep the current version and/or cancel the current request |
| l | List all previous subsystems |
| n | Retain the current request |
| p | Retain the current request and display the previous subsystem |
| q | Quit step mode |
| r | Select this subsystem for removal |
| u | (Same as i) |
| D | Select the remaining subsystems in this product for installation if marked with d |
| I | Select the remaining subsystems in this product for installation |
| J | Retain the current request for all subsystems in this product and display the first subsystem in the next product |
| K | Keep the current version and/or cancel the current request for the remaining subsystems in this product |
| N | (Same as J) |
| P | Retain the current request and display the first subsystem of the previous product |
| R | Select the remaining subsystems in this product for removal |
| U | (Same as I) |
| <Enter> | (Same as j or n) |
| + | (Same as j, n, or <Enter>) |
| - | (Same as p) |
| /pattern<Enter> | Search for pattern specified after the slash |
| <right-arrow> | (Same as i or u) |
| <left-arrow> | (Same as k) |
| <down-arrow> | (Same as n, j, +, or <Enter>) |
| <up-arrow> | (Same as p or -) |
| <Shift-right-arrow> | (Same as D) |
| <Shift-left-arrow> | (Same as K) |
| <Shift-down-arrow> | (Same as J or N) |
| <Shift-up-arrow> | (Same as P) |
- view
- Use the view command without arguments to display the View menu. Use the view command with arguments (View menu items) to control the output of the list and step commands. (See "Using the View Commands Menu" for more information on view features.)
By default, list and step display all software in the distribution at the subsystem level; subsystems are sorted alphabetically by shortname. You can use view to change these defaults. For example, these commands set the view to the target and reset it to the distribution:
Inst> view targ
Inst> view dist
These commands specify the viewing level:
Inst> view level image
Inst> view targ
These commands change the sorting index to size and filter out downgraded distribution items from displayed lists:
Inst> view sort size
Inst> view filter downgrade off
Also use view commands with the set command to set Inst preferences (see "A Closer Look at Preferences" for details).