To reliably build and deploy an instance of a service on a SlapOS Node, SlapOS makes use of software releases, which are sets of exact instructions on how to build, install and configure all the components needed for the service, down to every dependency. These software releases will have different versions as they evolve over time, as well as different variants to fit different use cases.
For more details about SlapOS's architecture, please refer to the SlapOS introduction.

These software releases are provided to SlapOS as a Software Product, within the context of a given project. It is comprised of two different types of components:

• Software Releases, which are simply URLs to different versions of the service's software releases;
• Software Types, which simply indicate the available variants of the service.

This tutorial will teach you how to create a Software Product from the SlapOS Panel for your Project, which can then be used to install the defined software on a SlapOS Node through an Allocation Supply.

The example used in this document is that of an ERP5 Software Product, using this ERP5 software release.

For this tutorial, you will need a Rapid.Space user account, as well as sufficient permissions in the Rapid.Space Project in which you wish to add the Software Product.

Log in to the Rapid.Space Panel.

From the homepage, navigate to your Projects through the corresponding button on the left side of the page.

On the Projects page, click on the desired Project in the list to navigate to its main page.

Once on the Project's page, click on Add Software Product in the Actions menu on the left of the page.

This will open a dialog with a Title field: choose and input a title for your Software Product, then click on Add Software Product to confirm.

You will now be redirected to the new Software Product's main page: for now, only the title has been configured, and the Software Release and Software Type lists are empty.

Let's start by adding a Software Release: click on the Add Software Release action on the left of the screen.

In the dialog, input the URL to the desired Software Release.
For a default SlapOS Software Release, this will be a URL to a tagged version of the software.cfg file of the release.
You can find a list of the default Software Releases and the available tags in Nexedi's SlapOS repository, in the software directory.

Confirm by clicking on the Add Software Release button.

You will now be redirected to the new Software Release's main page.

Optionally choose a title for the Software Release: as shown above, the version or tag number is often a good idea.

Save your changes, then go back to the Software Release's page through the ↑ Software Product Release Variation: ... button at the top of the page.

Back on the Software Release's page, you should see that the added Software Release is now displayed in the list of Software Releases.

Now, there are only Software Types left to add: click on Add Software Type on the left of the screen.

In the dialog, input the name of the desired Software Type.
For a default SlapOS Software Release, this will be default in most cases.
You can find a list of the available Software Types and their description in the software.cfg.json file of the release in the software directory Nexedi's SlapOS repository.

NOTE: For larger Software Releases comprised of several program instances running together, such as ERP5, you will need to add the Software Type corresponding to every program instance that will be running.
You will have to inspect the instance files of the Software Release to find out which ones.

Confirm by clicking on the Add Software Release button.

Back on the Software Release's page once again, you should see that the new Software Type has been added to the corresponding list.

You can repeat the above actions to add newer or alternate Software Releases to the Product, or define additional Software Types as needed.

Once you are satisfied with the result, you can now use the Software Product in an Allocation Supply to supply the software to a SlapOS Compute Node.