Software Distributor Administration Guide (March 2009)

2.1.4.7 Installing Multiple Versions
Your installation may commonly having multiple versions of a software product
installed at various hosts on the network. Multiple installed version let you:
• Back out defective versions (by removing the new version and reconfiguring the
old version, if necessary)
• Let users migrate to newer software versions at their own pace
You can decide whether to allow multiple versions by controlling the
allow_multiple_versions command option. If set to false, installed or configured
multiple versions (that is, the same product, but a different revision, installed into a
different location) are not allowed. While multiple installed versions of software are
allowed, multiple configured versions are not recommended.
Once multiple versions of software are installed into a location, you can manage them
by specifying the product attribute in the software specification of SD-UX commands.
(This is as opposed to specifying other version attributes such as revision and
architecture). This lets you install old and new versions of software at the same time
and configure both versions (if the software packaging supports it).
You can avoid unauthorized, privately installed versions of software by controlling
access to the IPD and restricting the use of the swinstall tool.
NOTE: Managing multiple versions of a software product on your system requires
close attention to the cross-product dependencies that may exist for each version. When
you installing multiple versions, make sure you also install multiple versions of the
cross-product dependencies. If the dependencies are not relocatable and each version
you want to install depends on a different version of the same product, multiple versions
of the original product cannot be installed.
2.1.4.8 Installing to an Alternate Root
Software is usually installed relative to the primary root directory (/) but you can also
install to an alternate root directory.
The automatic configuration and compatibility filtering that is part of the swinstall
command is not performed when installing to an alternate root. You can, however,
perform configuration separately from installation by using the swconfig command.
See “Configuring Your Installation (swconfig)” (page 69).
2.1.4.9 Compatibility Filtering and Checking
SD-UX normally filters out software products that are incompatible with any selected
targets. Compatible means that the architecture of the hardware matches that required
by the software (determined by the system uname attributes). It also means that the
OS version is the proper one for the software. The actual check for incompatible software
is performed during the selection phase. Compatibility filtering and checking are
2.1 Installation with swinstall 67