Managing packages with Packaging Utility

Learn how to manage packages with Packaging Utility.

You can use Packaging Utility for the following tasks:
  • Generate a new repository for packages.
  • Copy multiple packages to one repository.
  • Copy multiple versions of a product to one repository. Users point to the same repository to update installed products.
  • Save disk space when multiple packages that share components are added to one repository. Only one copy of the shared components is kept in the repository.
  • Delete packages that are no longer needed.
  • Create a repository to install packages over HTTP.
  • Copy packages from disk installation images or IBM® repositories to a repository that is on an internal server or a local computer.

Before you start to manage your packages, consider the various modes that you can use to run Packaging Utility.

Restriction: When you install from an HTTP server, you must use Packaging Utility. You must use Packaging Utility to create the repository that is on the HTTP server.

Read the descriptions of each method that you can use to run Packaging Utility:

You can run Installation Manager in console mode to install and uninstall Packaging Utility, but Packaging Utility does not have a console mode to run in. For more information, see the topics in the IBM Documentation on console mode and by using Installation Manager in console mode.

Wizard mode

In wizard mode, you run Packaging Utility from a graphical user interface.

For more information about how to get started with the graphical user interface, see the Wizard mode topic.

Command-line mode

When you cannot use the Packaging Utility graphical user interface, you can use Packaging Utility command line (pucl) to manage packages. You can use pucl commands with either the installed version of Packaging Utility or the stand-alone Packaging Utility.

See Command-line mode in the remote documentation to get started with your installation by using the command line.