Chapter 13. Software Installation

Table of Contents
Package Format
Package Tools
Package Naming
Package Dependencies

Package Format

Applications should be provided in the RPM packaging format as defined in the appendix of Maximum RPM, with some restrictions listed below. [1]

Distributions must provide a mechanism for installing applications in this packaging format with some restrictions listed below. [2]

Package Script Restrictions

Scripts used as part of the package install and uninstall may only use commands and interfaces that are specified by the LSB. All other commands are not guaranteed to be present, or to behave in expected ways.

Packages may not use RPM triggers.

Packages may not depend on the order in which scripts are executed (pre-install, pre-uninstall, &c), when doing an upgrade.

Notes

[1]

Some versions of RPM may produce packages which contain extensions or modifications to the RPM package format beyond what has been documented in the appendix of the Maximum RPM book. An LSB-conformant package must not contain any of these extensions, in order to assure interoperability with the largest number of versions of RPM and packaging systems which understand how to import RPM format packages.

[2]

The distribution itself may use a different packaging format for its own packages, and of course it may use any available mechanism for installing the LSB-conformant packages.