File Formats platform(4)
NAME
platform - directory of files specifying supported platforms
SYNOPSIS
.platform
DESCRIPTION
The Solaris operating environment release includes the
.platform directory, a new directory on the Solaris CD
image. This directory contains files (created by Sun and
Solaris OEMs) that define platform support. These files are
generically referred to as platform definition files. They
provide a means to map different platform types into a plat-
form group.
Platform definition files in the .platform directory are
used by the installation software to ensure that software
appropriate for the architecture of the system will be
installed.
Sun provides a platform definition file named
.platform/Solaris . This file is the only one that can
define platform groups to which other platform definition
files can refer. For example, an OEM platform definition
file can refer to any platform group specified in the
Solaris platform definition file.
Other platform definition files are delivered by OEMs. To
avoid name conflicts, OEMs will name their platform defini-
tion file with an OEM-unique string. OEMs should use what-
ever string they use to make their package names unique.
This unique string is often the OEM's stock symbol.
Comments are allowed in a platform definition file. A "#"
begins a comment and can be placed anywhere on a line.
Platform definition files are composed of keyword-value
pairs, and there are two kinds of stanzas in the file: plat-
form group definitions and platform identifications.
o Platform group definitions:
The keywords in a platform group definition stanza
are:
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 1
File Formats platform(4)
PLATFORMGROUP The PLATFORMGROUP keyword must
be the first keyword in the plat-
form group definition stanza. The
value assigned to this keyword is
the name of the platform group,
for example:
PLATFORMGROUP=sun4c
The PLATFORMGROUP name is an
arbitrary name assigned to a
group of platforms. However,
PLATFORMGROUP typically equals
the output of the uname -m com-
mand. PLATFORMGROUP value cannot
have white space and is limited
to 256 ASCI characters.
INSTARCH The instruction set architecture
of all platforms in the platform
group, for example:
INSTARCH=sparc
The INSTARCH keyword value must
be the value returned by the
uname -p command on all platforms
in the platform group.
o Platform identifications:
The keywords in a platform identification stanza
are:
PLATFORMNAME The PLATFORMNAME keyword must
be the first keyword in the
platform identification
stanza. The PLATFORMNAME is
the name assigned to the plat-
form, for example:
PLATFORMNAME=SUNW,SPARCstation-
5
Typically, this name is the
same as the value returned by
the uname -icommand on the
machine, but it need not be
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 2
File Formats platform(4)
the same.
The PLATFORMNAME value cannot
have white space and is lim-
ited to 256 ASCI characters.
If it contains parentheses, it
must contain only balanced
parentheses. For example. the
string "foo(bar)foo" is a
valid value for this keyword,
but "foo(bar" is not.
The other keywords in the
platform identification stanza
can be in any order, as long
as the PLATFORMNAME keyword
is first.
PLATFORMID The value returned by the
uname -i command on the
machine, for example:
PLATFORMID=SUNW,SPARCstation-
5
MACHINETYPE The value returned by the
uname -m command on the
machine, for example:
MACHINETYPE=sun4c
INPLATFORMGROUP The platform group of which
the platform is a member, for
example:
INPLATFORMGROUP=sun4c
The platform group name must
be specified in the same file
as the platform identification
stanza or in the platform
definition file with the name
.platform/Solaris .
The INPLATFORMGROUP keyword
is optional. A platform
doesn't have to belong to a
platform group. If a platform
is not explicitly assigned to
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 3
File Formats platform(4)
a platform group, it essen-
tially forms its own platform
group, where the platform
group name is the
PLATFORMNAME value. The
INPLATFORMGROUP value typi-
cally equals the output of the
uname -m command.
INPLATFORMGROUP value cannot
have white space and is lim-
ited to 256 ASCI characters.
INSTARCH The instruction set architec-
ture of the platform, for
example:
INSTARCH=sparc
This field is only required if
the platform does not belong
to a platform group. The
INSTARCH keyword value must
be the value returned by the
uname -i command on all plat-
forms in the platform group.
COMPATIBILITY
The installation program will remain compatible with the old
Solaris CD format. If a Solaris CD image does not contain
any platform definition files, the installation and upgrade
programs will select the packages to be installed based on
machine type, that is, the value returned by the uname -p
command.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Platform Group Definitions
The following example shows platform group definitions from
the .platform/Solaris platform definition file.
#
PLATFORMGROUP=sun4u
INSTARCH=sparc
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 4
File Formats platform(4)
Example 2 Platform Identification Stanzas
The following example shows platform identification stanzas,
which define systems that belong in a platform group, from
the .platform/Solaris platform definition file.
#
PLATFORMNAME=SUNW,SunFire
PLATFORMID=SUNW,SunFire
INPLATFORMGROUP=sun4u
PLATFORMNAME=SUNW,Ultra-80
PLATFORMID=SUNW,Ultra-80
INPLATFORMGROUP=sun4u
#
PLATFORMNAME=SUNW,SunFire
PLATFORMID=SUNW,SunFire
INPLATFORMGROUP=sun4u
#
PLATFORMNAME=SUNW,Ultra-80
PLATFORMID=SUNW,Ultra-80
INPLATFORMGROUP=sun4u
FILES
The .platform directory must reside as
/cdimage/Solarisvers/.platform, where
cdimage Is the path to the mounted Solaris CD
(/cdrom/cdrom0/s0 by default) or the path to
a copy of the Solaris CD on a disk.
Solarisvers Is the version of Solaris, for example,
Solaris2.9.
NOTES
Typically, a platform identification stanza contains either
a PLATFORMID or a MACHINETYPE stanza, but not both.
If both are specified, both must match for a platform to be
identified as this platform type. Each platform identifica-
tion stanza must contain either a PLATFORMID value or a
MACHINETYPE value. If a platform matches two different
platform identification stanzas-one which matched on the
value of PLATFORMID and one which matched on the value of
MACHINETYPE , the one that matched on PLATFORMID will take
precedence.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 5
File Formats platform(4)
The .platform directory is part of the Solaris CD image,
whether that be the Solaris CD or a copy of the Solaris CD
on a system's hard disk.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 6
|
