6    Producing Distribution Media for User and Kernel Product Kits

After you have gathered product files into subsets, you can move the subsets onto the distribution media.

Note

Procedures for creating distribution media for hardware product kits is documented in Section 5.3.

You can create the kit in either tar or direct CD-ROM (DCD) format. If your product kit does not access kernel modules during boot, you can use the tar format to compress your kit and save space on the media. If your product kit does access kernel modules during boot, you must use the DCD format.

You can distribute user and kernel product kits on tape, diskette, or CD-ROM, as follows:

Figure 6-1 shows the types of file formats and distribution media that are available for layered product kits.

Figure 6-1:  File Formats for Layered Product Kits

The gentapes and gendisk utilities refer to a file called /etc/kitcap, a database of kit descriptors. This database contains information about the kits to be built on the system. Each record contains a product code and the names of the directories, files, and subsets that make up the product kit.

This chapter describes how to edit the /etc/kitcap file and how to use the gentapes and gendisk utilities to produce kits for each type of media.

6.1    Editing the /etc/kitcap File

Before you can build your kit, you must add a record to the /etc/kitcap database to describe your kit. When you add a record to the file, use the following conventions:

The contents of a kitcap record differ depending on whether you are producing tape or disk media. You must add one record for each media type on which you plan to distribute your kit.

The contents of the record also depends on the product type you are delivering. For example, the kitcap record for a kernel product must contain the kk=true flag and might require the use of the rootdd= option. It is recommended that you refer to the kitcap(4) reference page for more information about the contents of the /etc/kitcap file.

6.1.1    Tape Media kitcap Record Format

The kitcap record for tape media contains the following elements:

Refer to the kitcap(4) reference page for more detailed information about the tape media record format.

Example 6-1 shows the record to be added to the /etc/kitcap file to produce the ODB kit on TK50 tapes:

Example 6-1:  Sample /etc/kitcap Record for Magnetic Tape

OAT100TK | Orpheus Document Builder: \
   /dcb_tools/output:SPACE:SPACE:SPACE: \
   INSTCTRL:OATODB100:OATODBDOC100

The product name, OAT100, is the same name that appears in the key file. The product description, (Orpheus Document Builder) also appears in the key file. The name of the output directory is specified as /dcb_tools/output, and three SPACE files are included for compatibility with operating system kits. The last line of the record contains the INSTCTRL directory and the names of the two subsets that make up the kit -- OATODB100 and OATODBDOC100.

6.1.2    Disk Media kitcap Record Format

You create a disk media kitcap record when producing kits for distribution on diskette or CD-ROM. The kitcap record for disk media contains the following elements:

Refer to the kitcap(4) reference page for more detailed information about the disk media record format.

Example 6-2 shows the kitcap record for the /dev/none driver:

Example 6-2:  Sample /etc/kitcap Record for CD-ROM or Diskette

ESA100HD:c:/: \
  dd=/kit:EasyDriver_none_driver: \
  /easy/output:instctrl:ESANONESTATIC100

Based on the information shown in Example 6-2, the gendisk utility places the kit on the c partition, in the / (root) directory of the disk media. The product description is "EasyDriver none driver", the kit output directory is named /easy/output, and subset control information is in the instctrl directory. The kit consists of one subset, named ESANONESTATIC100.

6.2    Building a User or Kernel Product Kit on Magnetic Tape Media in tar Format

When the product subsets are located in the output area of the kit directory structure, use the gentapes utility to create the kit on magnetic tape. The syntax of the gentapes command is as follows:

gentapes [-w -v] [hostname:] product-code special

The following command produces a kit for the ODB product on a magnetic tape:

% gentapes OAT100 /dev/ntape

6.3    Building a User or Kernel Product Kit on Disk Media

When the product subsets are located in the output area of the kit directory structure, use the gendisk utility to create the kit on a disk.

Note

The gendisk utility supports diskettes but does not support creation of a chained diskette kit. A kit written to diskette must fit on a single diskette or be packaged as a set of kits on separate diskettes.

The syntax of the gendisk command is as follows:

gendisk [-w -v ] [-d] [hostname:]product-code special

The -w option specifies that gendisk writes to the disk without verifying it; the -v option specifies that the command verifies a disk without writing to it first. If you specify neither option, gendisk writes the disk and verifies its contents.

You can use the gendisk utility to produce kits in either tar or DCD format, depending on whether or not you use the -d option.

The optional hostname argument is the name of a remote TCP/IP network machine that contains the /etc/kitcap file. The gendisk utility searches /etc/kitcap on the remote machine for the product-code and uses it for creating the media. The colon (:) is a required delimiter for TCP/IP networks, and space is permitted between the colon and the product-code. If you do not specify a hostname, gendisk looks on your own system. You can use NFS file sharing to mount the kit files remotely on a system with the required disk drive.

The product-code is a user-defined code that describes the product. It should match the product name specified in the kitcap record, which is usually a concatenation of the NAME and VERS fields of the key file.

The special argument is the name of the device special file for the disk device, such as /dev/rrzla.

6.3.1    Preparing a User or Kernel Product Kit in tar Format

To prepare a kit on disk for a user or kernel product, you use the gendisk utility without the -d option. You specify the product name and the device special file name. For example, the following command creates a kit in tar format for the /dev/none driver on the c partition of the disk named rz0:


% gendisk ESA100 /dev/rz0c