Using Stork in place of Yum or Apt

Stork uses a repository located at http://stork-repository.cs.arizona.edu and this repository is already populated with Fedora Core 2 and Fedora Core 4 packages for PlanetLab V3 and V4 nodes respectively. Although this tutorial concentrates primarily on using these pre-provided packages, there are mechanisms for adding your own packages to the repository and we direct you to the Advanced Usage section for more information.

Installing Stork on your Slice

[You may skip this section if stork is already installed and running on your Slice]

In order to use Stork, it must first be installed on your Slice. We are currently working with the PlanetLab developers on an automated mechanism for enabling Stork, but for the time being you will need to manually run our initscript to install the stork packages on your nodes. You will need to do this on each node of your slice that you want to run Stork.

Running the initscript requires root access, so be sure to do a 'su root' if you have not done so already.

# wget http://www.cs.arizona.edu/stork/downloads/initscript

# ./initscript

The stork initscript should download the stork packages to your node and install them. It will also start up a service called PacMan that automatically keeps the current version of stork up-to-date for you.

Once the initscript has completed, you may start using Stork to install Fedora 2 / 4 packages from our repository immediately. You do not need to edit any of the Stork configuration files, trusted packages files, or keys unless you wish to configure Stork to install your own custom packages.

Manually managing packages with Stork

Installing Packages:

To install a package on a node, use the command:
# stork lynx

Removing Packages:

To remove a package from a node, use the option:
# stork --remove lynx

Upgrading Packages:

To upgrade a package from a node, use the option:
# stork --upgrade lynx

Installing specific version numbers:

To install a specific version number of a package:
# stork --upgrade lynx=1.0.3-11

You may also use >, <, >=, <= relational operators:
# stork --upgrade lynx<=1.0-3-11

The stork client command-line tool has many options. For a complete reference, see the Stork Client reference page.

Notes / Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains information on some important differences between Stork and Yum, and some issues that you might experience.

How does Stork choose which package to install?

Generally there may be more than one version of a package in our repository, as our repository contains both Fedora 2 and Fedora 4 packages. Stork has an automatic rule to decide whether your node is a PlanetLab V3 or V4 node and automatically prefer the appropriate version of the Fedora packages. 

If you want to read more about how Stork decides which version of a package to install, then consult the Advanced Topics page and read more about Trusted Packages Files.

Error: "Another copy of stork is already running..."

Stork automatically starts a service called PacMan, which is responsible for automatically installing and updating packages. By default, it only maintains the Stork packages themselves. Periodically PacMan will wake up and run. When PacMan is running, the stork command line tool will be unavailable. If you get this error message, then we suggest you wait a few minutes and try again.  You can deactivate PacMan by executing "/etc/init.d/pacman.init stop". However, we encourage you not to do so as this will prevent your Slice from receiving important Stork updates and bug fixes.