warsaw@nlm.nih.gov (Barry A. Warsaw) (03/06/91)
Archive-name: unix/admin/depot/1991-03-05 Archive: durer.cme.nist.gov:/pub/depot.*.Z [129.6.32.4] Original-posting-by: warsaw@nlm.nih.gov (Barry A. Warsaw) Original-subject: Re: Alternative installation directories for X11R4 Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) Folks who are interested in this topic, and a related one -- sharing a single source tree for all platform installations of X11 (and other large software packages), may want to check out a paper published in Usenix LISA IV proceedings last October entitled "The *Depot*: A Framework for Sharing Software Installation Across Organizational and UNIX Platform Boundaries". Here's the abstract: "The *depot* is a coherent framework for distributing and administering non-OS distribution UNIX applications across extensibly numerous and diverse computer platforms. It is designed to promote reliable sharing of the expertise and disk resources necessary to maintain elaborate software packages. It facilitates software installation, release, and maintenance across multiple platforms and diverse host configurations. We have implemented the *depot* using conventional UNIX subsystems and resources combined with policies for coordinating them. This paper presents the specific aims, structure, and rationale of the *depot* framework in sufficient detail to facilitate its implementation elsewhere." This was authored by myself and my former co-workers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Kenneth Manheimer was principle author). While not specifically addressing the installation of X in alternative locations, it was necessary to accomplish this in order to "depotize" the X11 distribution, so many details were worked out by the folks involved in the depot's development. The paper can be ftp'd from durer.cme.nist.gov [129.6.32.4] under pub/depot. Both the paper and the presentation slides (in postscript form) are available. If you don't have ftp access, send the message "help" to the archive server address: library@cme.nist.gov. For more information about the depot, or specifically about depotizing X11, there is a mailing list which you can contact: Administrivia to: depot-request@cme.nist.gov Articles to: depot@cme.nist.gov -Barry NAME: Barry A. Warsaw INET: warsaw@nlm.nih.gov TELE: (301) 496-1936 UUCP: uunet!nlm.nih.gov!warsaw