Release Notes

Table of Contents

What is it ?

SCO Skunkware is the generic name for a free collection of software prebuilt for SCO. This distribution is the Summer 2001 edition of SCO Skunkware and is intended for use on the Open UNIX 8 platform. To obtain SCO Skunkware pre-built for use on SCO OpenServer, see the SCO Skunkware Web Site.

Distributions are released on CD periodically and a repository of this and previous distributions as well as updates and corrections can always be found at http://skunkware.dev.

SCO Skunkware contains a wide variety of software ranging from educational and experimental research tools to commercial grade software suitable for use on a production server.

It is provided for free and, with few exceptions, is not formally supported by SCO. The officially supported components on Skunkware include Apache, Squid, Samba and msla (Modify System for Linux Applications).

Supplemental Open Source Software CD

Included with Open UNIX 8 is a CD titled "Supplemental Open Source Software". This CD contains Linux binary distributions in RPM format built on SCO OpenLinux 3.1. These can be installed and run under the Linux Kernel Personality for Open UNIX 8. Much of the Skunkware team efforts this year have gone into providing these RPMs. In some cases there are duplicate packages on the Skunkware CD (natively compiled Open UNIX 8 binaries) and on the Supplemental Open Source Software CD (Linux binaries). In many cases the Supplemental Open Source Software CD contains newer releases and many additional packages not on the Skunkware CD. In some cases (e.g. cdrecord) the Linux binary will not function properly on Open UNIX 8 and a natively compiled binary is provided on the Skunkware CD.

We hope to improve this situation over time, removing redundancy and making it clear which package is intended for use on Open UNIX 8 and which on OpenLinux. In general, our goal is to move as much and as quickly as possible to providing Linux binaries in RPM format - the same package intended for use on both OpenLinux and Open UNIX. Therefore we encourage people to first try the Linux RPM and, if it does not function properly, report problems to contrib@ronrecord.com then try the Skunkware package if it exists.

GCC, GNU Make, Binutils, etc. now on UODK CD

Previous versions of the SCO Skunkware CD included the GNU C compiler (gcc), GNU make, flex, bison and other GNU development tools. These are now included on the UnixWare/OpenServer Development Kit CD and have been removed from the SCO Skunkware CD. Early release unsupported versions of these tools can be downloaded from the Skunkware web site.

Licensing

The software on the SCO Skunkware CD-ROM is licensed under a variety of terms. Much of it is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Some is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License. Other components are licensed under the Artistic License. Many of the components are "freeware" with no restrictions on their redistribution while a few components are "shareware" meaning the author would like you to try the software and, if you wish to use it, send her some money. A few components are commercial products which can be used freely for non-commercial purposes (e.g. msql). Some components simply restrict their use to non-commercial purposes.

To determine the licensing conditions for a particular component, see the corresponding source in the source directory. With the infrequent exception of SCO proprietary code, all SCO Skunkware components are accompanied by the source used to build them. The source is archived on-line at http://skunkware.dev/skunkware/src/ by category. The categories are:

SCO Skunkware Software Categories
audio emulators libraries shellutil fileutil mail sysadmin db net
textproc devtools interp news video editors lib shells www
X11 Graphical Categories
apps fonts games graphics misc savers utils viewers winman

Many of the components of SCO Skunkware may be viewed as productivity and development tools to be taken seriously. Do not let its whimsical nature fool you. Examples of serious tools on SCO Skunkware include:
  • Mtools - DOS filesystem manipulation tools
  • Scripting languages (Tcl, Tk, Python, Expect)
  • Internet/Network tools (apache, squid, xdir, many more)
  • Editors and text processing tools (xcoral, xemacs, ghostscript, vim, xhtml)
  • Typesetting and document formatting tools (teTeX, SGML-Tools, Lyx, Groff)
  • Graphical tools (the GIMP, ImageMagick, XV, Netpbm, Xfig, graphics libs)
  • Many many more
Of course, SCO Skunkware also contains fun stuff. Gotta have something to keep the polecats entertained thru the night. Examples include:
  • Games (xdoom, xgalaga, xboing, xpool)
  • Graphics (mathematical recreations, animation viewers, image manipulators)
  • Audio (audio players and editors, mixers, CD players, games with sound)
  • Stuff (view astrology charts, graphical fish tank, lots more)
Several of the components on this CD should be considered experimental. Consider SCO Skunkware a research tool. Examples:
  • Egcs, the Experimental GNU Compilation System from Cygnus.
  • Alpha or pre-release versions of window managers and graphical tools
  • A variety of Java classes and applications from Acme Laboratories
  • VRwave, a Java based VRML 2.0 browser
  • Endo, a tool for exploring dynamical systems in the plane

SCO Skunkware is freely distributed and unsupported software. No warranty is made on any of the SCO Skunkware components. Support and assistance with this software is not provided by SCO. In many cases, however, an e-mail to skunkware@ronrecord.com describing any problem you might have may result in a reply/fix/solution. And ...

Getting Started

  • Mounting the SCO Skunkware CD-ROM

    [Note that it is not necessary to mount the SCO Skunkware CD-ROM in order to install the pkgadd installable packages. See the section below on installing the SCO Skunkware software.]

    To mount the SCO Skunkware CD-ROM on an Open UNIX 8 system, use the command: 

        # mount -r -f cdfs /dev/cdrom/cdrom1 /mount-point
    where mount-point refers to the full pathname of the directory on which you wish to mount the CD-ROM (e.g. /mnt). Note also that the CD-ROM device name may vary from system to system.

    On an SCO OpenServer Release 5 system issue the command: 

        # mount -r /dev/cd0 /mount-point

  • Making room for the SCO Skunkware software

    The installation of all the SCO Skunkware components requires about a Gigabyte of free space on the root partition (/usr/local). If your root partition does not have sufficient space, or you wish to utilize an alternate filesystem for the SCO Skunkware components, prior to installing SCO Skunkware create a symbolic link in /usr as follows (using /u as the alternate filesystem): 

            # mv /usr/local /u/local
        # ln -s /u/local /usr/local
    The above commands assume a separate /u filesystem with sufficient disk space. The exact name of the alternate filesystem mount point is system dependent.

  • Installing the SCO Skunkware Software

    The installation of all the SCO Skunkware components requires about a Gigabyte of free space on the root partition (/usr/local).

    After mounting the SCO Skunkware CD (mount -r -f cdfs /dev/cdrom/c1b0t0l0 /mnt), run the command (as root): 

        # /mnt/INSTALL
    The SCO Skunkware INSTALL script will allow you to select from a menu of SCO Skunkware "software sets" including All Components, Development Tools, Shells, Audio/Video Components, etc. The INSTALL script acts as a front-end for a non-interactive installation using the Software Manager (pkgadd).

    NOTE: A full installation of SCO Skunkware will consume over one Gigabyte of disk space and take a couple of hours.

    To install an individual package, execute the command: 

        # pkgadd -d /mnt Package
    where "Package" is the name of the desired component and /mnt is the mount point of the SCO Skunkware CDROM. If the SCO Skunkware CDROM is not mounted, execute the command: 
        # pkgadd -d /dev/cdrom/cdrom1 Package
    See the file /mount-point/COMPONENTS for the list of available components.

  • Configuring your system for use with SCO Skunkware

    After completing the installation of the SCO Skunkware components you desire, you may wish to add /usr/local/bin to your PATH and /usr/local/man to your MANPATH. You may also wish to add /usr/local/java to your CLASSPATH. It should not be necessary to add /usr/local/lib to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH as the SCO Skunkware shared libraries have been built with the appropriate flags.

  • Browsing the SCO Skunkware HTML Documents

    For an introductory tour, point a web browser at /mount-point/index.html 

        # /usr/bin/X11/netscape file:/mount-point/index.html

    If you do not have or want a graphical browser, you can use Lynx (a character browser) which is included as part of the Open UNIX 8 installation. Execute the command: 

        # lynx file:/mount-point/index.html

    SCO Skunkware contains files suitable for installation with the pkgadd facility. In addition, there are hundreds of source archives (almost everything on the CD is accompanied by the source used to build it).

  • Removing the SCO Skunkware software

    All of the SCO Skunkware software can be removed by issuing the command: 

        # /mount-point/REMOVE
    where mount-point indicates the directory on which the SCO Skunkware CDROM is mounted. Individual components can be removed with the command: 
        # pkgrm Component
    where Component is the individual component name.

    A list of all installed SCO Skunkware components can be retrieved with: 

        # pkginfo -c skunkware

Accessing the CD on other platforms

On any other system, after mounting or otherwise making the High-Sierra Rockridge CD-ROM filesystem accessible, point your WWW browser to mount-point/index.html where mount-point indicates the UNIX directory or Windows drive representing the CD-ROM.

Source Code Distribution

In almost all cases, source code is also provided, so you can rebuild for earlier SCO releases or other platforms. A full source archive for this and previous SCO Skunkware releases is available at either http://skunkware.dev/skunkware/src/ or ftp://skunkware.dev:4000/skunkware/src/.

Source code is provided on-line at http://skunkware.dev/skunkware/src/. In some cases, source code is provided but no compiled binaries. The source distributions are in bzip2 compressed tar or cpio format. In order to extract these, download the appropriate source archive and use the command: 

$ bunzip2 -c /mount-point/src/<directory>/<package>.tar.bz2 | tar xf -
or, in the case of a compressed cpio archive: 
$ bunzip2 -c /mount-point/src/<directory>/<package>.cpio.bz2 | cpio -icdu
Where <directory> refers to the top-level source directory and <package> is the package name (e.g. gzip-1.2.4).

If you do not have bunzip2 installed (part of the bzip2 package), you can install it off of the SCO Skunkware CD via the command: 

        (Open UNIX 8 systems)
        # pkgadd -d /mount-point bzip2

Due to space constraints on the CD-ROM, the source archives are distributed electronically. To retrieve the source code for a component, visit the Skunkware web or ftp site at http://skunkware.dev/skunkware/src/ or ftp://skunkware.dev:4000/skunkware/src/.

Technical Library Supplements

You may also find the SCO Technical Library Supplements to be of interest. These are drawn from the SCO Support Online System, and are accessible via anonymous ftp on the Internet from ftp.sco.com or via web facilities at http://skunkware.dev

Default Package Configurations

Many of the SCO Skunkware packages contain configuration files. In order to avoid excessive user interaction during installation and to provide a consistent and well integrated set of configurations, the SCO Skunkware packages have been pre-configured (with the exception of xmcd which will prompt you for your CD-ROM make and model; and inn which may prompt for a "news" user password).

Generally, you will not need to alter the default configurations but you may choose to do so. Some of the package pre-configurations are as follows:

Known Limitations and Problems

Comments

We are interested in your general comments about this distribution and about development tools in general. Please feel free to e-mail skunkware@ronrecord.com with comments, criticisms and suggestions.

Ron Record rr@ronrecord.com
Open Source Architect The Skunkware Group
522 Laurent Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060