Sun Solaris System Admin » Package Management

BASE_CONFIG: JS_install_patchclust: Unable to locate patch

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:51:37 +0000

You may find the following error in your JET build install logs:

WARNING: BASE_CONFIG: JS_install_patchclust: Unable to locate patch 119545-03

Recently, when building servers using Sun JET (SUNWjet), I found that the patches from the Sun recommended Patch cluster is not installed as a part of the JET build. Digging deeper, I found the above error messages in the Jet install logs.

Further digging and found that sometime after May 2009, Sun recommended patch cluster directory structure has changed where in there is a subdirectory called “patches” has been created and all the patches are now placed into this subdirectory.

If you check the patch_cluster.conf file, the following line exists:

patches_subdir=”patches”

But, JET doesn’t seem to recognise this change and the “patches_subdir” entry in the patch_cluster.conf file.

To resolve (rather workaround) the problem, simply create symbolic links in the root directory of the patch_cluster as follows:

# cd 10_x86_Recommended

# for patches in `cat patch_order`

# do

# ln -s patches/$patches .

# done

This should create the sym links of each of the patches under th patch cluster root directory and fix the problem.

You should now the following logs instead of the warning above:

BASE_CONFIG: <<< 119545-03 (405 of 433) >>>

Install Sybase Perl module in Solaris 10

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:01:53 +0000

Installing Perl modules in Sun Solaris is not as straight forward but is not very difficult as well. Perl module installations in Sun Solaris needs GNU Make rather than the default make tool installed. And, requires using perlgcc to build the Makefile.PL than the default perl binary.

Installing Sybase Perl Module requires the following preinstalled

1. Sybase Server/Client already installed on your server
2. GNU Make

Install GNU Make

Assuming you have already installed Sybase Server/Client on your system, lets download and install GNU Make.

GNU Make package can be downloaded from sunfreeware.com website. At the time of writing, the version available for download is Make 3.81

Download GNU Make for Solaris 10 (SPARC)

Download Make for Solaris 10 (x86)

Unzip and Install GNU Make

From the directory where the file is downloaded

# gunzip make-3.81-sol10-x86-local.gz
# pkgadd -d make-3.81-sol10-x86-local

This should install “make” under /usr/local/bin

# which make
/usr/local/bin/make

Download Perl Modules from www.cpan.org. The modules we are interested in are

1. DBI (Database Independent Interface for Perl)

2. DBD::Sybase (Sybase database Driver for the DBI module)

NOTE: I find in Solaris 10 Update 6, DBI module is already installed which means we only need to install DBD::Sybase module.

To verify either of the modules is already installed on the system,

For DBI, file DBI.pm should exist under

x86

/usr/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.4/i86pc-solaris-64int/DBI.pm

SPARC

/usr/perl5/site_perl/5.8.4/sun4-solaris-64int/DBI.pm

For DBD::Sybase

x86

/usr/perl5/site_perl/5.8.4/i86pc-solaris-64int/DBD/Sybase.pm

SPARC

/usr/perl5/site_perl/5.8.4/sun4-solaris-64int/DBD/Sybase.pm

Now, assuming both these modules are not installed

Install Perl DBI Module

Download the DBI Module from here

From the download directory,

# gunzip DBI-1.609.tar.gz
# tar -xvf DBI-1.609.tar
# cd DBI-1.609

The above steps should (g)unzip, untar the downloaded source files.

Export $SYBASE & $LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables. We have the Sybase client installed under

/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0

which means the libraries exist under

/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0/lib

# export SYBASE=/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0
# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

If this step is skipped, the following error comes up in the next step:

Can’t find the lib directory under /export/home/sybase! at Makefile.PL line 118, line 44.

Now comes the tricky bit, use /usr/perl5/bin/perlgcc instead of default perl as follows:

# /usr/perl5/bin/perlgcc Makefile.PL

Let’s now compile and install using GNU Make from source directory

# /usr/local/bin/make
# /usr/local/bin/make test
# /usr/local/bin/make install

To make sure the install compelted successfully. Check if the DBI.pm file exists as shown earlier.

Install Perl DBD::Sybase module

Download DBD::Sybase perl module from here.

From the downloaded directory:

# gunzip DBD-Sybase-1.09.tar.gz
# tar -xvf DBD-Sybase-1.09.tar
# cd DBD-Sybase-1.09

The above should (g)unzip, untar the downloaded file and change into the source directory.

Export the $SYBASE & $LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables if you have already not done so.

# export SYBASE=/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0
# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084/OCS-15_0/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Run perlgcc against the Makefile.PL as follows:

# /usr/perl5/bin/perlgcc Makefile.PL

Select the default CHAIN mode or modify as required, then enter the Sybase Server, a Sybase Username and password and a Database as and when promted. This will allow the installation test connection. Make sure this DB connection is updated in the Sybase “interfaces” file.

NOTE: Once the installation is completed. Either the PWD file created by this procedure or the entire Source directory should be deleted as the PWD file will contain these DB access details. Also, it is advisable to provide a test DB access detail rather than a live environment.

Let’s now compile and install using GNU Make from source directory

# /usr/local/bin/make

Now, re-export $SYBASE as follows:

# export SYBASE=/opt/sybase/oc15.0-EBF16084

[NOTE: This may vary in your environment]

# /usr/local/bin/make test
# /usr/local/bin/make install

This should install the Sybase Perl module. To confirm the installation was successful, look for Sybase.pm as explained earlier.

How to find list of files installed by a package

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:20:32 +0000

“pkginfo” command can be useful in Solaris to give a detailed listing of a package including the details of number of installed files, pathnames, directories and executables as follows:

# pkginfo -l SUNWlibgcrypt
PKGINST: SUNWlibgcrypt
NAME: Libgcrypt – Cryptographic Library
CATEGORY: EVO146,application,JDS3
ARCH: sparc
VERSION: 1.1.12,REV=10.0.3.2004.12.15.17.57
BASEDIR: /usr
VENDOR: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
DESC: Libgcrypt – Cryptographic Library
PSTAMP: fire420041215175708
INSTDATE: Sep 15 2008 12:08
HOTLINE: Please contact your local service provider
STATUS: completely installed
FILES: 6 installed pathnames
2 shared pathnames
2 directories
2 executables
595 blocks used (approx)

But, if you want to see what those files and directories are then “pkgchk” should be your toy. The following should show the list of files and pathnames installed by the package:

# pkgchk -l SUNWlibgcrypt|egrep “Pathname|Type”
Pathname: /usr/bin
Type: directory
Pathname: /usr/bin/libgcrypt-config
Type: regular file
Pathname: /usr/lib
Type: directory
Pathname: /usr/lib/libgcrypt.so
Type: symbolic link
Pathname: /usr/lib/libgcrypt.so.1
Type: symbolic link
Pathname: /usr/lib/libgcrypt.so.1.5.1
Type: regular file

How to find files,directories,path,executables for packages

admin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:02:55 +0000

Sometimes you run into situations to try and understand where the files for your package that you just installed on your Sun Solaris Server. While this is no big deal for geeks lets help “not so geeks” with a way to find the files and path of installed package.

Here, on Sun Solaris 10, I know I’ve installed wget package and don’t have a clue where the files have gone into. Let’s start with finding the package name.

solaris10# pkginfo -l | grep wget
   PKGINST: SUNWwgetr
      NAME: GNU wget – utility to retrieve files from the World Wide Web (root)
      DESC: GNU wget – a utility to retrieve files from the World Wide Web (root components) 1.9.1
   PKGINST: SUNWwgetu
      NAME: wget – GNU wget
      DESC: GNU wget – a utility to retrieve files from the World Wide Web (Usr) 1.9.1

Now, that will help you find the package name. Here SUNWwgetu

# pkginfo -l SUNWwgetu
   PKGINST: SUNWwgetu
      NAME: wget – GNU wget
CATEGORY: system
      ARCH: i386
   VERSION: 11.10.0,REV=2005.01.08.01.09
   BASEDIR: /
    VENDOR: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
      DESC: GNU wget – a utility to retrieve files from the World Wide Web (Usr) 1.9.1
    PSTAMP: sfw10-x20050108014615
INSTDATE: Mar 20 2007 14:38
   HOTLINE: Please contact your local service provider
    STATUS: completely installed
     FILES:        4 installed pathnames
                   3 shared pathnames
                   3 directories
                   1 executables
                 338 blocks used (approx)

That gives you a more detailed insight on the package. If you look at the last part of the output, it displays the number of files, directories, paths installed and the number of executables installed.

To find the files installed

# pkgchk -v SUNWwgetu
/usr
/usr/sfw
/usr/sfw/bin
/usr/sfw/bin/wget

This will give details of the package files, directories, paths and executable installed. For wget the executable is in /usr/sfw/bin/

This should help!

Install & Run Sun VTS in Solaris 10 for hardware & Stress test

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:41:23 +0000

In my previous write up here, I wrote a brief description of the Sun VTS (Validation and Test Suite) which can help one to run tests on any Sun Supported hardware and hardware components and report the health status and identify faulty devices. Now, lets get installing and run Sun VTS in Solaris 10.

Download the most recent stable version of SUNWvts (SUNWvts6.4ps2 at the time of writing this article) for SPARC/x86 platforms from here

NOTE: Requires Sunsolve login to download.

Sun VTS requires the following packages installed to run properly.

Core SunVTS Framework

SUNWvts_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvts_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z (x86)

Sun VTS Tests

SUNWvtsts_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvtsts_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z (x86)

SunVTS Framework Configuration Files in Root partition (Optional/Recommended)

SUNWvtsr_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z

SUNWvtsr_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z

Sun VTS Man Pages (Optional)
SUNWvtsmn_VTS6.4ps1_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvtsmn_VTS6.4ps1_x86.tar.Z (x86)

Prior to installation, it is important that any previous version of the above mentioned Sun VTS packages are removed.

To check if previous versions are installed

solaris10# pkginfo -l | grep -i vts

If found uninstall them before proceeding with the procedure

solaris10# pkgrm SUNWvts SUNWvtsr SUNWvtsts SUNWvtsmn

Download and install the latest revision of Microtasking libraries (libmtsk) patch for Solaris 10 from the following Sun Solve website:

http://sunsolve.sun.com/show.do?target=patchpage

Solaris 10 SPARC – 120753 (120753-05)

Solaris 10 x86 – 120754 (120754-05)

Download unzip and install the patch:

SPARC

solaris10# unzip 120753-05.zip

solaris10# patchadd 120753-05

x86

solaris10# unzip 120754-05.zip

solaris10# patchadd 120754-05

Now, lets get installing the Sun VTS packages.

Install SunVTS Core Framework (SPARC & x86)

solaris10#pkgadd -d . SUNWvts

That installs the required Sun VTS Core Framework package.

Install the rest of the SunVTS packages
(SunVTS Tests,config files in root & Man pages)

solaris10# pkgadd -d . SUNWvtsts SUNWvtsr SUNWvtsmn

That completes the Sun VTS package installation.

Enable the rstatd daemon

rstatd daemon is disabled by default in Solaris 10.

solaris10# svcadm enable rstatd

Export Display to your PC (GUI only)

solaris10# export DISPLAY 192.168.0.2:0

Start Sun VTS

solaris10# /opt/SUNWvts/bin/sunvts &

This should start the Sun VTS software and export GUI to your PC (if display not exported then runs tty user interface on the terminal). Sun VTS will discover devices and list available tests for your server with dezcriptive information on the server.

Sun Solaris Patch Management return codes

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:21:21 +0000

When you install Patches on Solaris, you will find quite often see error codes or Exit/Return codes when the patch installation fails.

These are the return codes that indicate the cause of the failure to install the specified patch and are very helpful as point to start with in troubleshooting.

The most commonly seen return codes are Return code 2, Return code 8, Return code 25, Return code 35.

Return Code 2 indicates that the patch you are trying to install is already been applied.

Return Code 8 indicate that the patch you are trying to install is for a package that is not already installed.

Return Code 25 indicates that a patch required for this patch to be installed in not found.

Return Code 35 indicates that the revision of the patch is older and that a later version of the patch is already applied to the system.

The following are a list of the Return/Exit codes that you may come across while patching your Solaris server:

Exit Code / Return Code	Description
0	No error
1	Usage error
2	Attempt to apply a patch that’s already been applied
3	Effective UID is not root
4	Attempt to save original files failed
5	pkgadd failed
6	Patch is obsolete
7	Invalid package directory
8	Attempting to patch a package that is not installed
9	Cannot access /usr/sbin/pkgadd (client problem)
10	Package validation errors
11	Error adding patch to root template
12	Patch script terminated due to signal
13	Symbolic link included in patch
14	NOT USED
15	The prepatch script had a return code other than 0
16	The postpatch script had a return code other than 0
17	Mismatch of the -d option between a previous patch install and the current one
18	Not enough space in the file systems that are targets of the patch
19	$SOFTINFO/INST_RELEASE file not found
20	A direct instance patch was required but not found
21	The required patches have not been installed on the manager
22	A progressive instance patch was required but not found
23	A restricted patch is already applied to the package
24	An incompatible patch is applied
25	A required patch is not applied
26	The user specified back out data can’t be found
27	The relative directory supplied can’t be found
28	A pkginfo file is corrupt or missing
29	Bad patch ID format
30	Dryrun failure(s)
31	Path given for -C option is invalid
32	Must be running Solaris 2.6 or greater
33	Bad formatted patch file or patch file not found
34	The appropriate kernel jumbo patch needs to be installed
35	Later revision already installed

How to Install OpenSSH in Sun Solaris 10 (X86)

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:32:58 +0000

OpenSSH is a free opensource version of the SSH connectivity tools. OpenSSH encrypts all traffic (including passwords) to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other attacks unlike Telnet,rlogin or ftp where the data is not encrypted and transmitted in plain text. Additionally, OpenSSH provides secure tunneling capabilities and several authentication methods, and supports all SSH protocol versions.

Solaris 10 is by default installed with SSH server and the clients. However, if you have chosen to ignore SSH at the time of installation or have started the install with a minimal install then you may need to install OpenSSH manually.

The easiest way to install OpenSSH in Sun Solaris is to use the pre-compiled packages from sunfreeware.

The following are the packages that are required to be installed for OpenSSH to work properly in Solaris 10:

OpenSSL (Latest stable: openssl-0.9.8f)

ZLib (Latest stable: zlib-1.2.3)

GNU Compiler Collection (gcc Latest stable: libgcc-3.4.6)

TCPWrapper (Optional tcp_wrappers-7.6)

and OpenSSH itself (Latest Stable: openssh-4.7p1)

To start of, download the packages from the following sunfreeware.com links for Sun Solaris 10 X86 platform:

gcc

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/intel/10/libgcc-3.4.6-sol10-x86-local.gz

Zlib

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/intel/10/zlib-1.2.3-sol10-x86-local.gz

OpenSSL

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/intel/10/openssl-0.9.8f-sol10-x86-local.gz

OpenSSH

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/intel/10/openssh-4.7p1-sol10-x86-local.gz

Once done, upload the files onto the server so we can start to unzip the files and install.

Unzip and install gcc

solaris10# gunzip libgcc-3.4.6-sol10-x86-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d libgcc-3.4.6-sol10-x86-local

…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install zlib

solaris10# gunzip zlib-1.2.3-sol10-x86-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d zlib-1.2.3-sol10-x86-local

…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install OpenSSL

solaris10# gunzip openssl-0.9.8f-sol10-x86-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d openssl-0.9.8f-sol10-x86-local
…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install OpenSSH

solaris10# gunzip openssh-4.7p1-sol10-x86-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d openssh-4.7p1-sol10-x86-local
…
…
Installation of was successful.

The packages are now installed.

Create /var/empty directory

solaris10# mkdir /var/empty

Change directory ownership to Root user and sys group

solaris10# chown root:sys /var/empty

Change permissions

solaris10# chmod 755 /var/empty

Add sshd user & group

solaris10# groupadd ssh

solaris10# # useradd -g sshd -c ‘sshd privsep’ -d /var/empty -s /bin/false sshd

Edit the default /usr/local/sshd_config file and make the following changes:

Replace the line

Subsystem sftp /usr/libexec/sftp-server

with

Subsystem sftp /usr/local/libexec/sftp-server

Generate Keys for the server

solaris10# ssh-keygen -t rsa1 -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_key -N “”
solaris10# ssh-keygen -t dsa -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_dsa_key -N “”
solaris10# ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_rsa_key -N “”

Enable OpenSSH server daemon sshd to run at the system startup

Edit /lib/svc/method/sshd file and change the path for the SSH DIR, KEYGEN & the start daemon as follows:

SSHDIR=/usr/local/etc/ssh
KEYGEN=”/usr/local/bin/ssh-keygen -q”

‘start’)
/usr/local/sbin/sshd

That is it. All done and ready to go. Try connecting to the server using a ssh client like PUTTY.

How to Install OpenSSH in Sun Solaris 10 (SPARC)

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:21:13 +0000

The easiest way to install OpenSSH in Sun Solaris is to use the pre-compiled packages from sunfreeware.

The following are the packages that are required to be installed for OpenSSH to work properly in Solaris 10:

OpenSSL (Latest stable: openssl-0.9.8f)

ZLib (Latest stable: zlib-1.2.3)

GNU Compiler Collection (gcc Latest stable: libgcc-3.4.6)

TCPWrapper (Optional tcp_wrappers-7.6)

and OpenSSH itself (Latest Stable: openssh-4.7p1)

To start of, download the packages from the following sunfreeware.com links for sun solaris 10 Sparc:

gcc

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/sparc/10/libgcc-3.4.6-sol10-sparc-local.gz

Zlib

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/sparc/10/zlib-1.2.3-sol10-sparc-local.gz

OpenSSL

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/sparc/10/openssl-0.9.8f-sol10-sparc-local.gz

OpenSSH

ftp://ftp.sunfreeware.com/pub/freeware/sparc/10/openssh-4.7p1-sol10-sparc-local.gz

Once done, upload the files onto the server so we can start to unzip the files and install.

Unzip and install gcc

solaris10# gunzip libgcc-3.4.6-sol9-sparc-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d libgcc-3.4.6-sol9-sparc-local

…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install zlib

solaris10# gunzip zlib-1.2.1-sol9-sparc-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d zlib-1.2.1-sol9-sparc-local

…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install OpenSSL

solaris10# gunzip openssl-0.9.8f-sol9-sparc-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d openssl-0.9.8f-sol9-sparc-local
…
…
Installation of was successful.

Unzip and install OpenSSH

solaris10# gunzip openssh-4.7p1-sol9-sparc-local.gz

solaris10# pkgadd -d openssh-4.7p1-sol9-sparc-local

The packages are now installed.

Create /var/empty directory

solaris10# mkdir /var/empty

Change directory ownership to Root user and sys group

solaris10# chown root:sys /var/empty

Change permissions

solaris10# chmod 755 /var/empty

Add sshd user & group

solaris10# groupadd ssh

solaris10# # useradd -g sshd -c ‘sshd privsep’ -d /var/empty -s /bin/false sshd

Edit the default /usr/local/sshd_config file and make the following changes:

Replace the line

Subsystem sftp /usr/libexec/sftp-server

with

Subsystem sftp /usr/local/libexec/sftp-server

Generate Keys for the server

solaris10# ssh-keygen -t rsa1 -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_key -N “”
solaris10# ssh-keygen -t dsa -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_dsa_key -N “”
solaris10# ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_rsa_key -N “”

Enable OpenSSH server daemon sshd to run at the system startup

Edit /lib/svc/method/sshd file and change the path for the SSH DIR, KEYGEN & the start daemon as follows:

SSHDIR=/usr/local/etc/ssh
KEYGEN=”/usr/local/bin/ssh-keygen -q”

‘start’)
/usr/local/sbin/sshd

That is it. All done and ready to go. Try connecting to the server using a ssh client like PUTTY.

How to install MySQL database server in Sun Solaris

admin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:03:40 +0000

Installation of MySQL Database server on Solaris is not that difficult but is a bit dragging and not as straightforward as is in any other Linux flavors. The following procedure will help install MySQL and configure successfuly in Sun Solaris.

To install MySQL Database server on Solaris follow the procedures listed below:

Note: I've used MySQL-5.0.24a for Solaris 8. However, this is a very generic

procedure and I'm sure will work on other Solaris versions.

Download the MySQL Package for solaris from

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html

Once downloaded unzip using

# gzip mysql-standard-5.0.24a-solaris8-sparc-64bit.tar.gz

Now, comes the first problem, you need to have GNU Tar installed on your Solaris server as there is bug in getting the classic Solaris one to work.

To download and install GNUTar, please click here.

Untar using GNUTar by

# tar -xvf mysql-standard-5.0.24a-solaris8-sparc-64bit.tar

Now, install using

# pkgadd -d mysql-standard-5.0.24a-solaris8-sparc-64bit.pkg

This installs the software. You can be confirmed using

# pkginfo -l mysql

This will give a detailed output describing the installation.

Now, change dir to /opt/mysql/mysql/support-files

# cd /opt/mysql/mysql/support-files

Copy the my-middle.cnf as my.cnf and mysql.server to /opt/mysql/mysql/scripts

# cp my-middle.cnf ../scripts/my.cnf
# cp mysql.server ../scripts/

Now, change to /opt/mysql/mysql/scripts folder

# cd opt/mysql/mysql/scripts

Edit file my.cnf using vi

#vi my.cnf

Add the following lines to the file under [mysqld]

datadir=/opt/mysql/mysql/data
basedir=/opt/mysql/mysql
log
log-update

Similary, edit the mysql.server file and add the following lines:

# vi mysql.server

basedir=/opt/mysql/mysql
datadir=/opt/opt/mysql/mysql/data
conffile=/opt/mysql/mysql/scripts/my.cnf
mysql_daemon_user=mysql

Now, all done, run the mysql_install_db script as follows

# ./mysql_install_db –defaults-file=/opt/mysql/mysql/scripts/my.cnf

This creates the initial MySQL database.

Now, start MySQL using

cd . ; /opt/mysql/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe &

This will start MySQL.

Now, you need to set the password for root account

# /opt/mysql/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password ‘newpassword’
# /opt/mysql/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h password ‘newpassword’

This completes a successful installation of MySQL on your Solaris Server.

How to install GNU tar in Sun Solaris

admin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:49:00 +0000

There are scenarios where you cannot untar a certain package with the builtin tar utility. A best example would be when you use it to untar the MySQL Packages downloaded from

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html

Follow the procedures listed below to sucessfully install GNU Tar installed in Sun Solaris.

Download the GNU tar (tar-1.15.1) for your Solaris version and platform (SPARC/X86) from,

http://www.sunfreeware.com

Once downloaded, change to the directory where the file is downloaded (ex: /export/software/)

# cd /export/software

Now, unzip using,

# gzip -d tar-1.15.1-sol8-sparc-local.gz

NOTE: File Name varies as per your solaris version/platform

Once done, install the package using,

# pkgadd -d tar-1.15.1-sol9-sparc-local

NOTE: Be sure that you change to the directory and and just enter the package name after -d

Answer the prompts for confirmation and creation of new folder (if required).

This completes the installation.

To check the installation,

# pkginfo | grep tar

This will show up as

application SMCtar GNU tar..

To confirm with more details,

#pkginfo -l SMCtar

This should do.