Overview of Software Specification Attributes

Software specification attributes are used to define a relationship or an assignment between a designated software element and other software element(s). Every attribute value in the PSF must use a designated value type, for software specification attributes this value type is software_specification. By using the software_specification value type to define a software specification attribute, you gain the ability to specify the software elements in greater detail.

There are three types of software specification attributes:

	NOTE: Software specification attributes are treated differently than other attributes within the SPB GUI. For a software packager, it can be important to view the real-time status of software specification attributes. For this reason, these attributes are displayed in the Package Structure beneath the designated software element and are preceded by an icon which indicates its resolution status.

Software Specification Attributes

Dependency Attributes

A dependency attribute can only be specified for a fileset. Dependency attributes define a relationship between a specified fileset and another software element (fileset or product). The specified fileset is dependent on the other software element in the manner designated. A fileset dependency can be defined between the dependent fileset and the following:

Ancestor Attribute

The ancestor attribute defines the name of a previous version of a fileset. This attribute designates the list of filesets that will match the current fileset when installed on a target system, if the match_target installation option is specified.

Contents Attribute

The contents attribute defines the list of the software elements contained within a subproduct or bundle. This attribute is automatically generated when you create and add content to a bundle or subproduct. You can only edit this attribute when it is used to define bundle contents.

Resolving Software Specifications

For a software specification attribute to be resolved with respect to other software on the source depot, it must be:

SPB and Validation

When assigning dependencies in your PSF using the SPB GUI, you should be aware of what SPB will and will not validate or resolve.

SPB will:

SPB will not:

Software elements and their associated software specification attributes are displayed in the Package Structure. You can view the status of a software specification attribute and where applicable, edit its associated attributes.

SPB provides real-time verification for the status of software specification attributes. Table 5-1 shows the Package Structure representation symbols and the status each defines:

Table 5-1 Software Specification Status

Icon Representation	Status
	Resolved
	Unresolved but may be found externally from the local PSF and will swpackage without an error
	Unresolved and will cause an error with swpackage

Working with Dependency Attributes

Software that depends on other software to install or run correctly is considered to have a dependency. When you specify software for the swconfig, swcopy, swinstall, swremove, swverify commands, these commands may automatically select additional software to meet dependencies.

Multiple dependency attributes may be specified for a corequisites attribute or a prerequisites attribute. There are two types of relationships that can be used when defining multiple dependency attributes:

• AND - Use the AND relationship to specify multiple dependency attributes, each of which must be satisfied. The AND relationship is the default.

• OR - Use the OR relationship to specify multiple dependency attributes in a set, where only one of the set must satisfy the dependency

	NOTE: The following procedures apply to both corequisites or prerequisites dependency attributes.

Procedure 5-10 To add a dependency attribute using the AND relationship

	NOTE: When setting a dependency attribute, the AND relationship is the default.

1. From the Package Structure, select the fileset for which you want to add a corequisites attribute. Select Structure > Add Element(s) > Corequisites.
   The Corequisites dialog box appears.

2. From the Available Content, select the software elements you want to add to the fileset as a corequisites attribute.

3. Click Add.

4. Continue adding corequisites as needed.

5. Click OK once all corequisites attributes have been added to the fileset.

Procedure 5-11 To add a dependency attribute using the OR relationship

	IMPORTANT: Use the OR relationship when you need to specify multiple corequisites or prerequisites attributes in a set, where only one of the set must satisfy the dependency. An OR relationship is specified within an OR corequisites set (or OR prerequisite set). The software specification value for a given OR set is comprised of the individual software specification for each corequisites (or prerequisites) attribute it contains. When a new corequisite or prerequisite is added to an OR set, the software specification value for that attribute is appended to the OR set's software specification and separated by the pipe symbol (|).

1. From the Package Structure, select the fileset for which you want to add an OR corequisites set.

2. Select Structure > Add Element(s) > Corequisites.
   The Corequisites dialog box appears.

3. Select the OR Relations tab.

4. Click Add Set.
   A new, empty OR corequisites set is added to the Fileset Content.

5. From the Fileset Content, select the appropriate OR corequisites set.

6. From the Available Content, select the software element(s) you want to add to the OR corequisites set.
   Multiple software elements may be selected to add to the set.

7. Click Add.
   The OR corequisites set now contains the additional corequisites attributes.

8. Click OK once all OR corequisites sets and their contents have been added.

Procedure 5-12 To add remote content as a dependency attribute

	NOTE: For this procedure, you will use an existing corequisites attribute as a template for specifying remote content as a corequisites attribute.

1. From the Package Structure, select the fileset for which you want to add remote content.

2. Select Structure > Add Element(s) > Corequisites.
   The Corequisites dialog box appears.

3. From the Fileset Content, select the corequisites attribute you want to use as a template.

4. Edit the Software Spec field as appropriate to specify the remote content.

   	IMPORTANT: The software specification cannot contain spaces.

5. Click Add Content.
   The Fileset Content now contains the new, remote corequisites attribute.

6. Continue adding corequisites attributes as needed or click OK to exit.