Depot: A Framework for Sharing Software Installation Across Organizational and UNIX Platform Boundaries
Ken Manheimer, Kenneth Manheimer Nist, Walter P Rowe, Barry Warsaw, Century Computing, Stephen N. Clark Nist, Walter Rowe Nist · 1990
The depot is a coherent framework for distributing and administering non-OSdistribution 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. Keywords: Depot, UNIX, sharing, distributed file system, /usr/local, installation, third-party. Introduction Installing and administering third-party UNIX applications often requires significant investment of time and expertise, precious commodities in any organization. Duplicating this investment is us...