Now that you’ve installed the QNX RTP on your machine, how do you go about installing more software? Installing software in QNX is done through what’s called the Package Manager. Although software packages can also be installed the way we do in Linux (untar archives, compile source codes, etc), Package Manager makes the process of distribution and installation much easier. Package Manager uses the concept of Repositories. These are basically directories where the software and its information are stored. The contents of a Repository consist of an index file (an ASCII text file that stores the names of packages), the package manifest (an XML document with the extension QPM that stores information about the package, its version, date, etc), and the data as a QPK file.

The Package Manager can be connected to such a valid repository for installing the packages. The information is downloaded to the Package Manager and then you can select the packages to be installed. By default, QNX shows up two repositories—the CD-ROM Repository pointing to the stuff on the CD-ROM and the WWW Repository which points to the repository on QNX’s Website server. You can also manually add repositories by adding the paths of the corresponding directories.

You’ll find additional installation information and troubleshooting FAQs at http://qdn.qnx.com or from newsgroups at news://inn.qnx.com

Happy Real Timing.

Ashish Sharma