SWA Command Structure

HP-UX Software Assistant is a tool that uses a major mode style interface.

# swa <major mode>

SWA has the following major modes: report, get, step, and clean.

Extended options modify each SWA command. They can be specified on the command line or saved in a configuration file.

# swa <major mode> -x <extended_option>

# swa <major mode> -X <extended_option_config_file>

Context sensitive help is available for all SWA commands with the -? option.

# swa <major mode> -?

The following sections give a brief overview of swa commands. For detailed information, see Appendix C .

The Major Modes

SWA has the following major modes: report, get, step, and clean.

The major modes report and get are comprised of steps, outlined below. The step mode allows you to execute one of these steps. The clean mode frees up disk space by removing caches of files from previous SWA sessions.

Report

# swa report

The swa report command is comprised of the following steps, and executes them in the order listed.

Inventory – The swa report command first does an inventory of the installed software. The inventory is written to $HOME/.swa/cache/swa_inventory_n.xml.

Catalog – Then, swa report downloads an HP-supplied catalog file from the ITRC website that contains known security issues and other defects along with their solutions. The catalog file is saved to $HOME/.swa/cache/swa_catalog.xml.

Analyze – The inventory file is then compared with the catalog file to see what issues need to be resolved on the system, and the resulting analysis file is written to $HOME/.swa/cache/swa_analysis.xml.

Report – A summary of recommended actions are written to standard output and comprehensive results are written to $HOME/.swa/report/swa_report.html.

Get

# swa get

The swa get command is comprised of the steps download and depot, and executes them in the order listed. Prerequisites to the swa get command are the steps inventory, catalog, and analyze.

Download – The swa get command uses the results file generated by the analysis step of swa report to download the necessary software from HP. Write access to the swcache directory is required for this step.

Depot – The downloaded software is then packaged in a depot. Superuser privileges are required for this step.

Step

# swa step {inventory | catalog | analyze | report | download | depot}

The swa report and swa get commands are made up of steps. The swa report command is comprised of the steps inventory, catalog, analyze, and report. The swa get command is comprised of the steps download and depot.

With the swa step command, you can execute one discrete step of the swa report or swa get command, such as: swa step inventory.

Clean

# swa clean {usercache | swcache | all}

When the swa command runs, it produces cache files for its use. Run swa clean to free up disk space after your swa session is complete.

The swa clean command has modifiers that specify the caches to clean. The modifiers are: usercache, swcache, and all. The usercache holds the files created by swa report, and the swcache holds the patches and patch bundles downloaded by swa get or swa step download. The swcache directory can be set with the extended option swcache.




	NOTE: The usercache generally does not consume much disk space, but the swcache can consume a significant amount of disk space. There is a trade-off between removing software from the swcache directory and having to repeat a software download.

Extended Options

Extended options allow you to tailor SWA behavior to your own specifications as each phase is performed: analysis, reporting, and downloading HP software. SWA commands are capable of accepting extended options via command line or in an extended options configuration file. Precedence of extended options sources are given in the manpages.

To specify an extended option via command line, use the syntax swa_command -x option.

To use a configuration file, there are three options:

Specify a file on the command line with swa_command -X option_file.
Use the $HOME/.swa.conf file.
Use the /etc/opt/swa/swa.conf file.

The SWA manpages document applicable extended options for a command, and the /etc/opt/swa/swa.conf.template file outlines the usage and syntax of each extended option. Be sure to read the manpages so you are aware of the extended options' default values associated with each command.

SWA Help

Use the -? option at any level of a command to get context sensitive information regarding usage and available options. For example:

# swa report -?
Usage:
    swa report [options]    Analyze and report issues and new software

Where options include:
    -a analyzer         One of the analyzers to use <multiple -a options can
                        be specified>
    -q                  Decrease verbosity of output
    -r report_type      Set the type of the stdout report
    -s                  System, depot or existing local inventory file to analyze.
    -v                  Increase verbosity of output
    -x ext_option=value Set the extended option to value <multiple -x options
                        can be specified>
    -X option_file      Read extended option settings from this file

Use "swa report -<option> -?" <e.g. "swa report -x -?"> to get a
description of options that have arguments

SWA Command Structure

Technical documentation

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