PackMan

PackMan is a utility to help install and maintain applications and other components of a RISC OS computer.

This is version 0.9.7 (Beta version). It should be feature complete, but may contain some rough edges and bugs. Please send me feedback to improve this application. Contact details are in the application Help.

This is an alternative front end for packages in the RISC OS Packaging Project format, see my RISC OS Packaging page for details on enhancements used in the latest version of PackMan.

It features:

    • A list of the packages with a summary of their purpose.

    • A status bar giving extra information on the selected packages.

    • The ability to filter the list by category, or if they are installed or have an upgrade.

    • Find a package by searching the package names and description

    • Single click on a button or menu item to start the Install, Upgrade or Remove

    • Install multiple packages at once

    • Set the location to install package components (e.g. applications). Note: Some older packages have not been updated to support this yet.

    • Filter packages by those suitable for the machine PackMan is running upon. Note: This is a new feature and existing packages need to be upgraded to support this.

    • And much more...

If you have a previous release of PackMan just use it to install or upgrade the PackMan package from the main RISC OS Packaging project source

If you are not using a previous version of !PackMan follow the following steps

    1. Ensure you have a program that can decompress zip files. e.g. SparkFS, a free read-only version is available here and it is often shipped with your copy of RISC OS.

  1. Download a copy of PackMan from the packaging website at http://www.riscos.info/packages/arm/Administration/packman_0.9.7-1_arm.zip

    1. Once loaded, drag the downloaded file to !SparkFS or set the filetype to Archive and double click on it.

    2. Navigate to the Apps.Admin directory in the Archive and drag the !PackMan application to your hard disc. The suggested location is in Apps.Admin on your Hard Disc, but you may place it anywhere you wish.

    3. You can now double click on the application to run it. Then click on the PackMan icon on the iconbar to finish setting it up.

    4. Please see the Help file for what to do now. The full help file requires a browser to have been seen by the filer.

    5. If you have a copy of the SharedUnixLibrary installed, PackMan will use it. If not it uses it's own copy to make initial installation easier. If the already installed version of the SharedUnixLibrary is not a new enough version, PackMan will report an error, in which case it will need to be updated. To do this, download the latest version from here and copy the SharedUnixLibrary (SharedULib) to !System.Modules.310 from the zip file.