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Sys Admin Magazine: Cross-Platform UNIX Software Packaging with OpenPKG

“Many of us prefer open source software for its well-known
advantages, but sometimes regret the associated disadvantages when
manually applying it to a heterogeneous environment. To keep a work
environment stable and secure, it’s often necessary to search for
the latest version of an application and collect the most recent
patches. After that, systems administrators must build and install
the new binaries on every UNIX box in the network. Then, after a
laborious round of build manipulation, it might not be clear that
the application will run as intended on each of the different
platforms. If the application is a daemon, even more work awaits
because most UNIX flavors have their own method of starting and
stopping daemons.

“In this article, we will explore OpenPKG, a software
development and packaging project initiated by Cable &
Wireless, an international Internet Service Provider. The OpenPKG
project began in November 2000 and has grown into a collaborative
software development effort managed and maintained by many. The
project aims to create a modular and flexible UNIX subsystem for
cross-platform software packaging and installation…”

Complete
Story

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