General Script Guidelines

Consider doing most control script work within the configure script.

All scripts are executed serially and directly impact the total time required to complete an installation, configuration, or removal task. Consider the impact control scripts will have on performance.

The current working directory in which the agent executes a control script is not defined. Use the environment variables provided by the agent for all pathname references.

Disk space analysis does not account for files created, copied or removed by control scripts.

The control scripts you write may be executed several times (for example, configure, then unconfigure, then configure...) so they must be able to support multiple executions.

You may have to re-execute or debug control scripts, especially when they generate error or warning conditions, so your scripts should be well-written and commented.

Control script stdout and stderr are both logged, so you should restrict output to only the information the user requires.

Make sure you specify the path to a shell that is proper for your system. If you get the following message when you execute a script:

it means the shell in your script has a path that is not correct for your system. (HP-UX 9.X scripts = #!/bin/sh and HP-UX 10.X and 11.X scripts = #!/sbin/sh.)