DEPOT File

What are DEPOT files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a DEPOT file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your DEPOT files.

What is a DEPOT file?

A .DEPOT file is a HP-UX Software Distributor Catalog Depot file.

HP-UX Software Distributor Catalog Depot is a content repository format used by Hewlett-Packard's Software Distributor (SD-UX) system to organize and distribute software packages for the HP-UX operating system. It represents a depot - a structured directory tree that holds products, filesets, scripts, metadata, versioning and catalogs that describe what software is available, what it requires, how to install it, and where its components are stored.

The depot format is produced by SD-UX tools such as swpackage, swcopy and related commands. The tools construct both the metadata catalog (often called "catalog/index" or "catalog/INDEX") and the file hierarchies for "product_directory" and "fileset_directory" under that depot. Users then access the depot via swinstall, swcopy or swverify to install or inspect software. Depots may reside locally, on CD-ROM, tape or on networked servers.

Internally, depot directories include a catalog area (with files like catalog/INDEX, swlock), a dfiles directory with its INDEX, INFO, ACL and owner files, and subdirectories for each product and fileset including control scripts, file lists, READMEs and product attributes. Key metadata fields include attributes such as data_model_revision, layout_version, os_name, os_release, tag, title, description, instance_id, size, state, control_directory, vendor, and more.

Technical markers include the ASCII header signature "catalog/INDEX" at the beginning, the appearance of filesystem-archive signatures such as "ustar.00root" at offset 257 (indicating embedded tar metadata), and presence of field names like "distribution.layout_version", "data_model_revision", "IS_LOCATABLE FALSE", "CONTROL_DIRECTORY", "OS_NAME HP-UX", "ALL_FILESETS", "OS_RELEASE", "STATE AVAILABLE", "LICENSE", "TITLE", etc.

How to open DEPOT files

Important: Different programs may use files with the DEPOT file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your DEPOT file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

We have not yet verified any programs for Windows that work with this specific file format. If you know one, please use the 'Suggest a program' link below. Thanks!

Last updated: October 22, 2026

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