SPARC and x86 Differences

When you use the distribution constructor to create ISO images, there are a few differences between creating images for SPARC systems and for x86 systems:

• To prepare to use the distribution constructor, you can download an x86 Live CD image and use it to install the OpenSolaris OS on your x86 system. However, there are no SPARC Live CD images. Instead, you must use the automated installer to install the OpenSolaris OS on a SPARC system. Then you can use the distribution constructor on that SPARC system.

  For information about using the automated installer, see the OpenSolaris Automated Installer Guide.

• The root archive for x86 images differs from the root archive for SPARC images. The whole root archive, or bootroot, for x86 images is a UFS filesystem, compressed by using lzma. The SPARC platform does not support the compression of the whole root archive in this way. Instead, SPARC root archives use DCFS, which compress each file individually. These individually compressed files might require specific handling in the manifest. For instructions, see <bootroot_contents> in Table 3-1.