About This Guide
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## About This Guide

This book describes how to use Software Packager (`swpkg`), a graphical tool for packaging software for installation on Silicon Graphics® workstations. Products packaged with Software Packager can be installed with Software Manager (`swmgr`), an Indigo Magic™ Desktop utility for installing software.

## What This Guide Contains

This book contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, “Packaging Software for Installation: An Overview,” provides an overview to Software Packager.

Chapter 2, “The swpkg Tutorial,” contains a brief tutorial of packaging an application using Software Packager.

Chapter 3, “Creating a Product Hierarchy,” describes how to create a product hierarchy.

Chapter 4, “Tagging the Files,” describes how to tag files for inclusion in the product and assign the files to subsystems in your product.

Chapter 5, “Editing Permissions and Destinations,” describes how to set the destination, names, and permissions of the files installed.

Chapter 6, “Adding Attributes,” describes how to set attributes for the files installed, including how to execute commands before and after installation, how to modify configuration files, and how to specify which files to install on different hardware configurations.

Chapter 7, “Building the Product,” shows how to build the installable product. It also discusses how to change a product that you've built, how to merge two or more existing products into a single product, and how to divide an existing product into two or more separate products.

Chapter 8, “Creating a Patch Product,” shows how to package a patch product.

Appendix A, “Writing Mapping Expressions,” describes how to create optional mapping expression for complex cases of assigning files to subsystems.

Appendix B, “Troubleshooting,” provides tips for troubleshooting common Software Packager problems.

## What You Should Know Before Reading This Guide

This guide assumes that you are familiar with installing software using Software Manager. For more information on Software Manager and software installation, see the Personal System Administration Guide and the Software Installation Administrator's Guide.

Silicon Graphics provides both these manuals online. You can view them from the IRIS InSight Viewer. To use the IRIS InSight Viewer, select “On-line Books” from the Help toolchest.

## Font Conventions in this Guide

These style conventions are used in this guide:

- Boldfaced text indicates that a term is an option flag, a data type, a keyword, a function, or an X resource.

- Italics indicates that a term is a file name, a button name, a variable, an IRIX command, a document title, or an image or subsystem name.

- “Quoted text” indicates menu items.

- `Screen type` is used for code examples and screen displays.

- `Bold screen type` is used for user input and nonprinting keyboard keys.

- Regular text is used for menu and window names.

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Software Packager User's Guide |  | Chapter 1. Packaging Software for Installation: An Overview