platform(4) File Formats platform(4)NAMEplatform - directory of files specifying supported platforms
SYNOPSIS
.platform
DESCRIPTION
The Solaris operating environment release includes the .platform direc‐
tory, 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 platform
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 defi‐
nition 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 definition file with an OEM-
unique string. OEMs should use whatever string they use to make their
package names unique. This unique string is often the OEM's stock sym‐
bol.
Comments are allowed in a platform definition file. A "#" begins a com‐
ment 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: platform group definitions
and platform identifications.
· Platform group definitions:
The keywords in a platform group definition stanza are:
PLATFORM_GROUP The PLATFORM_GROUP keyword must be the first key‐
word in the platform group definition stanza. The
value assigned to this keyword is the name of the
platform group, for example:
PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4c
The PLATFORM_GROUP name is an arbitrary name
assigned to a group of platforms. However, PLAT‐
FORM_GROUP typically equals the output of the
uname -m command. PLATFORM_GROUP value cannot have
white space and is limited to 256 ASCII charac‐
ters.
INST_ARCH The instruction set architecture of all platforms
in the platform group, for example:
INST_ARCH=sparc
The INST_ARCH keyword value must be the value
returned by the uname -p command on all platforms
in the platform group.
· Platform identifications:
The keywords in a platform identification stanza are:
PLATFORM_NAME The PLATFORM_NAME keyword must be the
first keyword in the platform identifica‐
tion stanza. The PLATFORM_NAME is the name
assigned to the platform, for example:
PLATFORM_NAME=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 the same.
The PLATFORM_NAME value cannot have white
space and is limited to 256 ASCII charac‐
ters. 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 identi‐
fication stanza can be in any order, as
long as the PLATFORM_NAME keyword is
first.
PLATFORM_ID The value returned by the uname -i command
on the machine, for example:
PLATFORM_ID=SUNW,SPARCstation-5
MACHINE_TYPE The value returned by the uname -m command
on the machine, for example:
MACHINE_TYPE=sun4c
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP The platform group of which the platform
is a member, for example:
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4c
The platform group name must be specified
in the same file as the platform identifi‐
cation stanza or in the platform defini‐
tion file with the name .platform/Solaris
.
The IN_PLATFORM_GROUP keyword is optional.
A platform doesn't have to belong to a
platform group. If a platform is not
explicitly assigned to a platform group,
it essentially forms its own platform
group, where the platform group name is
the PLATFORM_NAME value. The IN_PLAT‐
FORM_GROUP value typically equals the out‐
put of the uname -m command. IN_PLAT‐
FORM_GROUP value cannot have white space
and is limited to 256 ASCII characters.
INST_ARCH The instruction set architecture of the
platform, for example:
INST_ARCH=sparc
This field is only required if the plat‐
form does not belong to a platform group.
The INST_ARCH keyword value must be the
value returned by the uname -i command on
all platforms 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 .plat‐
form/Solaris platform definition file.
#
PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4u
INST_ARCH=sparc
Example 2: Platform Identification Stanzas
The following example shows platform identification stanzas, which
define systems that belong in a platform group, from the .plat‐
form/Solaris platform definition file.
#
PLATFORM_NAME=SUNW,SunFire
PLATFORM_ID=SUNW,SunFire
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4u
PLATFORM_NAME=SUNW,Ultra-80
PLATFORM_ID=SUNW,Ultra-80
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4u
#
PLATFORM_NAME=SUNW,SunFire
PLATFORM_ID=SUNW,SunFire
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4u
#
PLATFORM_NAME=SUNW,Ultra-80
PLATFORM_ID=SUNW,Ultra-80
IN_PLATFORM_GROUP=sun4u
FILES
The .platform directory must reside as /cd_image/Solaris_vers/.plat‐
form, where
cd_image 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.
Solaris_vers Is the version of Solaris, for example, Solaris_2.9.
NOTES
Typically, a platform identification stanza contains either a PLAT‐
FORM_ID or a MACHINE_TYPE stanza, but not both.
If both are specified, both must match for a platform to be identified
as this platform type. Each platform identification stanza must contain
either a PLATFORM_ID value or a MACHINE_TYPE value. If a platform
matches two different platform identification stanzas—one which matched
on the value of PLATFORM_ID and one which matched on the value of
MACHINE_TYPE , the one that matched on PLATFORM_ID will take prece‐
dence.
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 5.10 19 Nov 2002 platform(4)
