Tutorial:Tools for Conary Packaging and Appliance Building
From rPath Wiki
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Before stepping through this tutorial, you may want to see the following resource:
Conary package management allows any user on any Conary-based system to package software for Conary. Software that is packaged for Conary can be installed and maintained in a way that takes advantage of Conary's features.
Conary packaging and other appliance development activities require development software to be installed on the Conary-based system. The development software comes in the form of the cvc commands and rMake. In addition, rPath provides a dedicated development image ready to deploy with all these tools already installed. See each of the following sections for more information about these tools.
 | Conary packaging and appliance building with cvc and rMake require some comfort with using a Linux command line. If you are unfamiliar with Linux or UNIX commands, be sure to consult any of several Internet resources for an introduction to navigating a Linux filesystem and managing files and directories in Linux. Frequently used Linux commands include cd, ls, pwd, mkdir, and rm. |
Application to Appliance Development Image
The Application to Appliance Development Image is a basic Conary-based system that includes group-devel and rMake from rPath Linux, plus three common Linux text editors (vim, Emacs, and Nano), running on just enough operating system (JeOS) to support these tools. The image is available as a VMware virtual machine that can be run in the free VMware Player software or in other VMware products. The VMware image allows most users to perform appliance development activities on their own desktop systems. The image is also available as an installable ISO image when dedicated hardware is desired.
Click here to download and launch the Application to Appliance Development Image.
By using the development image, you do not need to install and maintain the cvc commands or rMake. If you choose to use a different Conary-based system, though, see the sections below for how to install these development tools.
cvc commands
Though there are conary commands that can be used to manage software installed on a Conary-based system, there are some additional cvc commands used to package software for such management. The way the cvc commands are packaged is specific to the Conary-based Linux distribution in use. Currently, this means the following:
- If you are using rPath Linux, install group-devel from rPath Linux (group-devel=conary.rpath.com@rpl:1)
- If you are using Foresight Linux, install group-devel from Foresight Linux (group-devel=foresight.rpath.org@fl:1)
Use the following command to install the group-devel appropriate for your distribution (root permission required):
#> conary update group-devel
If the system says that the software does not exist, add "=" followed by the label specific to your distribution (such as group-devel=foresight.rpath.org@fl:1).
For derivative distributions, check with the distribution maintainers to determine if there is a group-devel equivalent specific to that distribution.
rMake
rMake is a tool that can be used for building packages and groups for Conary. Though it uses cvc commands as part of its operations, rMake ensures consistent results across varied developer environments. See the rMake pages to learn more about how rMake works.
These tutorials and Application to Appliance: The Hands-on Guide focus on using rMake as much as possible in place of cvc commands through packaging and appliance building activities.
Use the following command to install rMake (root permission required):
#> conary update rmake=conary.rpath.org@rpl:1