The Image Packaging System, also known as IPS or pkg(5), is a

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...

package management system A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals w ...

created by the OpenSolaris community in coordination with Sun Microsystems. It is used by Solaris 11, several

illumos Illumos (stylized as illumos) is a partly free and open-source Unix operating system. It is based on OpenSolaris, which was based on System V Release 4 (SVR4) and the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Illumos comprises a kernel, device d ...

-based distributions:

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, OmniOS, XStreamOS and a growing number of layered applications, including

GlassFish GlassFish is an open-source Jakarta EE platform application server project started by Sun Microsystems, then sponsored by Oracle Corporation, and now living at the Eclipse Foundation and supported by Payara, Oracle and Red Hat. The supported v ...

, across a variety of OS platforms. IPS is coded in the

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

programming language.

Features

Features include: * Use of

ZFS ZFS (previously: Zettabyte File System) is a file system with volume management capabilities. It began as part of the Sun Microsystems Solaris operating system in 2001. Large parts of Solaris – including ZFS – were published under an ope ...

, allowing multiple boot environments and easy package operation rollbacks * Transactional actions * Support for multiple platform architectures within a single package * Legacy support for SVR4 packages * Extensive search grammar * Remote search capability * Changes-only based package updates * Network package repository * File and network-based package publication * Package operation history * On-disk package format (p5p) * Multi-platform ports for layered applications: ** Broad platform support:

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Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

, OS X, Darwin, Solaris, OpenSolaris,

and

AIX Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...

** Cross-platform update notification and package management

Graphical user interfaces The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

Advantages

The fact that IPS delivers each single file in a separate shelf with a separate checksum, a package update only needs to replace files that have been modified. For

ELF An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

binaries, it computes checksums only from the loaded parts of an ELF binary; this permits e.g. to avoid to update an ELF binary that changed only the ELF comment section.

Trade offs

Due to the fact that IPS delivers each single file in a separate shelf, slow operation is caused when the input source is on a medium with high latency (e.g. internet with higher round trip time or CD/DVD media with slow seeks).

References

External links

Github project: Image Packaging System

Multi-platform Packaging for Layered Distros

GlassFish Update Center Toolkit)

Update Center 2.0 (multiplatform IPS)
OpenSolaris Free package management systems Sun Microsystems software Unix package management-related software {{Install-software-stub