Installing variously formatted software packages

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You can use this information to install software packages received in different formats.

You can install RPM Package Manager (RPM), interim fix, and InstallShield MultiPlatform (ISMP) formatted packages in addition to installp formatted packages. Use the SMIT, or the geninstall command to install and uninstall these types of packages. The geninstall command can detect the format type of a specified package and run the appropriate installation command.

The AIX® product media contains installp packages and RPM packages that are installed during a base operating system (BOS) installation. The installp packages are located in the following path: 
/mount_point/installp/ppc
The RPM packages are located in the following path: 
/mount_point/RPMS/ppc
If you have interim fix packages for AIX, they may be placed in the following path: 
/mount_point/emgr/ppc
If you have media that contains ISMP packages for AIX, the ISMP packages are located in the following path: 
/mount_point/ISMP/ppc
The geninstall command recognizes the following file names as ISMP install images:
  • setupaix*
  • install*
  • setup.jar

If you are using the geninstall command to install RPM, interim fix, or ISMP packages, use the prefix type to indicate to the geninstall command the type of package that you are installing. The package prefix types are the following:

I:  installp format
R:  RPM format
J:  ISMP format
E:  interim fix format

For example, to install the cdrecord RPM package and the bos.games installp package, type the following: 
# geninstall -d/dev/cd0 R:cdrecord I:bos.games
The geninstall command detects that the cdrecord package is an RPM package type and runs the rpm command to install the cdrecord package. The geninstall command then detects that bos.games is an installp package type and runs the installp command to install the bos.games package. The process for uninstallation is similar to the installation process.

In SMIT, if you are selecting the packages from a software list, you need not specify the prefix type.