Step 4: Making Software Selections

Step 4: Making Software Selections

Three types of actions can occur on a target during an installation: Distribution software is installed, target software is removed, and some target software is kept in its present condition. In this step, you specify which of these actions should be taken against selected software when the installation is performed (step 5 of this procedure). The install, remove, and keep commands select software for the designated action.

In most cases, the selection step is needed to adjust software for the disk capacity of the target and the needs of its users. However, in some cases it is possible to accept the automatic selections that Inst made during initialization. These selections are described in "Accepting Automatic Selections".

Note: If the automatic selections described on page 52 are suitable for your circumstances, you can accept these selections and go directly to step 5 of this procedure.

Using the install, remove, and keep Commands

The install, remove, and keep commands select software products and their components for a particular action. No action is taken until you enter the go command (see "Step 5: Launching the Installation"), so you can change your selections as many times as necessary before entering go.

Note: You can use the step command to display items on the distribution individually and make your selections as each item is displayed. See "Using step to Make Selections" for details. When you make your selections, keep these points in mind:

Usually, Inst has already made some installation selections automatically (see "Accepting Automatic Selections"). Use the install command to select software that is not already selected.
In some cases, you might not want an automatic (or user) selection installed on the target, or the currently installed version may be more suitable. When this is the case, use the keep command to preserve the current condition on the target.
During the installation, Inst automatically removes target software that will be upgraded by software from the distribution (illustrated by Example 4-3). It is not necessary to use the remove command on these products--use the remove command only on currently installed software that you no longer want on the target.
Use the list command periodically to check the selection status of products and product components during this step (see "Step 3: Displaying Software Information").
It is sometimes useful to alternate the selection process with the launch process (see "Step 5: Launching the Installation"), selecting and installing a subset of software in each cycle.

Simple Selection Command Entries

In their simplest form, the install, remove, and keep commands contain one argument that identifies the product, image, or subsystem on which the action will be taken. If you specify a product or image as the argument to the install, remove, or keep commands, the action is taken on all subsystems of the product or image.

These sample entries explain the effects of selection command entries:

Inst> install sysmon: Install all parts of the product sysmon, which is either a new product for the target or an upgrade to the installed version.
Inst> remove InPerson.books: Remove the currently installed InPerson.books image from the target.
Inst> keep DeltaCC.sw.backend: Retain the DeltaCC.sw.backend subsystem (if it is installed) or prevent installation of the distribution version.

You can use multiple arguments in install, remove, or keep commands, as shown in Example 4-6. Your list of arguments can extend to a new line, as long as you do not end the line with a blank space.

Inst> install sysmon cadmin mmail desktop_eoe dmedia_eoe quickt
ime_dev imgtools.sw showcase
Inst> keep InPerson.books InPerson.sw 
Inst> remove DeltaCC.sw.backend DeltaCC.man.relnotes

Example 4-6 : Multiple Arguments to the install, remove, and keep Commands

Using Arguments in Selection Commands

You can use the names of products and their components, metacharacters, and keywords as arguments to the install, remove, and keep commands to save time (see "Using Command Shortcuts" for more information). These sample entries illustrate the use of keywords in selection commands:

Inst> install required: Install all subsystems that are required for optimum system operation.
Inst> remove *.man: Remove all images with a .man extension from the target.
Inst> keep I eoe*: Keep all eoe1 subsystems that are currently installed on the target (do not install upgrade versions from the distribution).

Checking Your Selections With list

You can enter a list command during the selection process whenever the Inst> prompt is displayed. The first column of the listing and the disk space summary information reflects your selections and their effects on disk space.

Accepting Automatic Selections

Recall from step 3 that Inst automatically made some preliminary selections during initialization (also see "Automatic Initialization Functions"). If you accept the automatic selections, you can omit step 4 and go on to "Step 5: Launching the Installation".

Use this command to display the list of software that is selected for installation:

Inst> list i

Example 4-7 illustrates a portion of the display that was generated by the previous list command. Notice that the display concludes with an estimate of space requirements, which may help you decide whether to accept the automatic selections.

i  U eoe.sw.gfx_lib bdr      19+  Graphics Execution Libraries
i  U eoe.sw.irix_lib bdr    991+  IRIX Execution Libraries
i  U eoe.sw.unix bdr       6674+  IRIX Execution Environment
i  U eoe.sw.cdrom d         241+  CD-ROM Support
i  U eoe.sw.crypt d          25+  Security Administration Utilities
i  U eoe.sw.gltools d        80+  Graphics Library Tools
Disk Space summary (Kbytes)                / 
Current free space                    564432
- Selections net change                64793+
- Temporary inst overhead                 53+
= Minimum free during install         499586
Final projected free space            499639

Example 4-7 : List of Subsystems Selected for Installation