Installing and uninstalling Liberty on IBM i operating systems

Overview of IBM Installation Manager: IBM Installation Manager is a general-purpose software installation and update tool that runs on a range of computer systems. Installation Manager can be invoked through a command-line interface. You can also create response files in XML and use them to direct the performance of Installation Manager tasks in silent mode.

For more information on using Installation Manager, read the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

Packages and package groups: Each software product that can be installed with Installation Manager is referred to as a package. An installed package has a product level and an installation location. A package group consists of all of the products that are installed at a single location.

How many Installation Managers do you need: You only need to run Installation Manager on those systems on which you install or update product code. You normally need only one Installation Manager on a system because one Installation Manager can keep track of any number of product installations.

Creating an Installation Manager: When the installation kit is available on your system, you can create an Installation Manager. An Installation Manager consists of a set of binaries that are copied from the installation kit and a set of runtime data that describe the products that have been installed by this particular Installation Manager. Before creating an Installation Manager, you must decide in which mode the Installation Manager will run as well as where the binaries and runtime data - called agent data or appdata - will reside. Then, you issue the Installation Manager installation command from the appropriate user ID to create the Installation Manager.

Accessing product repositories: All software materials that will be installed with IBM Installation Manager are stored in repositories. Each repository contains program objects and metadata for one or more packages - that is, software products at a particular level. Repositories can also contain product maintenance, such as fix packs and interim fixes. Whenever you install a new product, you can choose from any of the available product levels in any accessible repository.

Installing the product: After you have created an Installation Manager and have access to all necessary product repositories, you can use Installation Manager command-line commands or response files to perform the actual product installations. When you install a product, you provide the package name, optionally the product level to be installed, the product location, and any other optional properties. For example, some products have optional features that you can select at installation time or a list of optional supported language packs from which you can select.

Working with installed products: You can use Installation Manager commands to list installed products and product levels. You can also obtain this information for installed copies of Liberty by issuing the versionInfo command from the product file system. You can use Installation Manager commands or response files to install a new product level, roll back to a previous level, or modify the product by adding or removing optional features or language packs.