Cross-Platform UNIX Software Packaging with OpenPKG

Ralf S. Engelschall, Thomas Lotterer,
Michael Schloh von Bennewitz, and Christoph Schug

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.

More specifically, the goals of OpenPKG stem from the historical problem often faced in the daily operation of an ISP. The major UNIX platforms in operation at ISPs include FreeBSD, Linux, and Solaris. OpenPKG, however, is not limited to the three major platforms mentioned (see Table 1). To achieve cross-platform portability, OpenPKG provides a subsystem on top of the underlying UNIX system as shown in Figure 1.