The Image Packaging System (IPS) is a software delivery system with interaction with a network repository as its primary design goal. Other key ideas are: safe execution for zones and other installation contexts, use of ZFS for efficiency and rollback, preventing the introduction of incorrect or incomplete packages, and efficient use of bandwidth.
IPS development requires additional external dependencies, which on Solaris 11 are provided by the list of packages found in src/pkg/external_deps.txt.
Once all dependency packages are installed, IPS source can be built by the following command:
$ cd src; make install
The above will generate a proto directory under the root directory. Inside the proto directory, the build_i386 directory contains Python version-specific builds; root_i386 contains the complete build with the directory structure preserved.
Generally, testing of the new build can be done by the following command:
$cd src/tests; sudo ./run.py -j 8
The above will run all test cases in 8 parallel processes. Other options are also available by typing ./run.py -h.
Tests running can also be done by using make:
$cd src; sudo make test
Make targets test-39 and test-311 are available for testing specific Python versions.
IPS applications and libraries can be packaged and published into an IPS repository using:
$cd src; make packages;
The above command generates IPS related packages and publishes them into packages/i386/repo on an x86-based system.
-
Example 1 Create an Image With Publisher Configured
Create a new, full image, with publisher example.com, stored at /aux0/example_root.
$ pkg image-create -F -p example.com=http://pkg.example.com:10000 \ /aux0/example_root
-
Example 2 Create an Image With No Publisher Configured
Create a new, full image with no publishers configured at /aux0/example_root.
$ pkg image-create -F /aux0/example_root
-
Example 3 Install a Package
Install the latest version of the widget package in the current image.
$ pkg install application/widget
-
Example 4 Add a Publisher
Add a new publisher example.com, with a repository located at http://www.example.com/repo.
$ pkg set-publisher -g http://www.example.com/repo example.com
-
Example 5 Add and Automatically Configure a Publisher
Add a new publisher with a repository located at /export/repo using automatic configuration.
$ pkg set-publisher -p /export/repo
For more examples, please refer to List of References below or man page pkg(1) on Solaris operating system.
See https://support.oracle.com/ for official Oracle Solaris support.
Discussion forums are available at:
- https://community.oracle.com/mosc/categories/oracle_sun_technologies
- https://community.oracle.com/tech/apps-infra/categories/13305-solaris
Instead of submitting a pull request, please follow our contribution guide.
Please consult the security guide for our security vulnerability reporting and disclosure process.
Copyright (c) 2010, 2026, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
The Image Packaging System is primarily distributed under the terms of the CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License), with a few portions covered by BSD-style or MIT-style licenses.
Refer to following files for details:
- LICENSE.txt (the CDDL)
- LICENSE-CPIO (applies to src/modules/cpiofile.py)
- LICENSE-MINISAT (applies to src/modules/solver/*)
- LICENSE-PLY (applies to src/modules/ply/*)