AIX Open Source

AIX Open Source

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  • 1.  aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Thu November 04, 2021 07:28 AM
    Hi, I'm using the aix-toolbox for long time, and recently, our repository has download the package : tar-1.33.1
    After experiencing a lot of problems with an "unarchive" ansible module, I finally discover that in this new packages, some files are missing.

    In the 1.33.1 version,

    root@ aix680p196: /root> rpm -ql tar-1.33-1.ppc
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar_32
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar_64
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33/AUTHORS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33/NEWS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33/README
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33/THANKS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.33/TODO
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info-1.gz
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info-2.gz
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info.gz
    /opt/freeware/share/locale/bg/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
    (I remove the messages files from this output)

    and for the 1.32.1

    root@ aix680p196: /root> rpm -ql tar.ppc
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar_32
    /opt/freeware/bin/tar_64
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32/AUTHORS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32/NEWS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32/README
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32/THANKS
    /opt/freeware/doc/tar-1.32/TODO
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info-1.gz
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info-2.gz
    /opt/freeware/info/tar.info.gz
    /opt/freeware/share/locale/bg/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
    (I also remove the messages files from this list)
    /usr/bin/gtar
    /usr/bin/gtar_32
    /usr/bin/gtar_64
    /usr/linux/bin/gtar
    /usr/linux/bin/gtar_32
    /usr/linux/bin/gtar_64
    /usr/linux/bin/tar
    /usr/linux/bin/tar_32
    /usr/linux/bin/tar_64

    here you can see that the gnu tar is present, wich is required by some tools.

    Can you take a look in this package, please ?

    Regards, Fred

    ------------------------------
    Frederic PONCE
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Thu November 04, 2021 07:38 AM
    We decided not to ship any files into /usr directory for AIX Toolbox packages for quite sometime. This is to avoid any potential conflict between AIX base files (lpp packaging) and Toolbox files (rpm packaging). Toolbox users are required to set /opt/freeware/bin in their PATH. 
    We can create a gtar inside /opt/freeware/bin ( if it is really required ) in the next version.

    ------------------------------
    Ayappan P
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Thu November 04, 2021 10:42 AM
    ok, I note that you don't put anymore files in / usr / bin
    on the other hand, the ansible "unarchive" module necessarily wants unzip and gtar in order to function. 
    With the module ansible, the PATH is not read. I've just test again my playbook after making a symlink /usr/bin/gtar on /opt/freeware/bin/tar and it works.
    Maybe now I must do this symlink on each lpars in order to use the module.

    ------------------------------
    Frederic PONCE
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Fri November 05, 2021 05:08 AM
    if someone is interested, we can also override the PATH in the unarchive module. This avoids leaving a symlink ....

    unarchive:
      src: /source/aix/7.2/idsldap/ids.tar
      remote_src: true
      dest: /tmp/
    environment:
      PATH: /opt/freeware/bin

    regards, Fred

    ------------------------------
    Frederic PONCE
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Mon November 08, 2021 01:03 PM
    Having to alter the path makes the task different for AIX than for Linux, which is a fail in my opinion.  If AIX keeps being the complicated thing in the corner, things aren't going to get any better.

    Installing the package should result in usable software. Having the Toolbox GNU tar package manage a symlink does not leave crumbs when the package is removed, does not add a requirement for additional domain knowledge on the part of the admin (them having to create the symlink), etc.

    As long as the RPM does not produce a file that collides with anything shipped with AIX, then putting the symlink in /usr/bin is the most tractable solution. For a (very) limited number of packages[1], prefixing the binary name with "g" (like "gtar") avoids the collision and is expected. I think it's reasonable to have RPM put nothing *except* symlinks anywhere outside of /opt/freeware - that at least helps document what's going on. This solution is used on other systems to treat effect.

    This is only my opinion, and I definitely don't work for IBM, but the Toolbox should make using Ansible easier by adding as few additional steps as possible.

    [1] I think that this is the set of basic *nix utilities where the GNU version is basically required to use other OSS products. There is already a very common convention to use the "g" prefix for tar and sed - gawk usually already comes with it. We're still in trouble with respect to grep, though, and I'm not aware that ggrep ever caught on... [2]

    [2] Unless GNU grep gets -p (for paragraph), which AIX grep has and is used all over the place in scripts included in IBM products.

    -- 
    Stephen L. Ulmer
    Enterprise Architect
    Mainline Information Systems
    (m) 352-870-8649

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  • 6.  RE: aix toolbox tar-1.33.1 missed files

    Posted Tue November 09, 2021 12:55 PM
    Adding /opt/freeware/bin path in the PATH environment variable is the way. 
    We are trying to create a clean environment for open source packages. In past we had many cases where open source tools collide with AIX provides tools. In other OS also (leaving Linux) open source tools gets installed in separate path than /usr/bin.
    We need to understand that there are two paths for binaries in AIX now, one for open source and one for base AIX.

    ------------------------------
    SANKET RATHI
    ------------------------------