Well, send me of list of the "must have" RPM's you use now.
And it is simple matter, should it be important to flag the hardware as POWER8 (and anything later). Currently I package as POWER4 or as POWER5 as the "lowest" level of "common" code supported.
And, if you would be interested in learning how to package "company system management scripts" as installp, rather than as RPM - let me know, and I'll work on an "article" on how that can be done.
And, should you have a sandbox to test with - I would welcome the feedback on what I need to do better. (e.g., I saw some messages with my upgrade from aixtools.openbsd.openssh from version 7.4 to version 7.5 (that are harmless, but I should clean up just the same).
FYI: as far as OpenSSL goes - other than getting the hooks needed for AIX into LibreSSL - I try and leave that to IBM. Esp[ecially when it comes to FIPS (related) issues - noone is going to accept a site smaller than "IBM". And, as it is still, or better, now - in installp format - I go with that flow.
Many thanks for the comments. And, any questions - or suggestions - are extremely welcome!
e.g., I am only now understanding the necessity of your "hack" - to let the system think OpenSSL as RPM is installed, so other packages who still want to depend on that can install.
And, before I forget - I try hard (and independent verification is MUCH desired) to make sure my packages can be installed in parallel with AIX and "freeware-branded" RPM packages (i.e., those that install into /opt/freeware and then set symbolic links from the "normal" locations to /opt/freeware).
In hindsight, to have been true to the "standards" I should have been installing to /opt/aixtools/* - but I was young and ignorant and skipped "package" directly to /opt/* (so, /opt/bin, /opt/sbin, /opt/lib, etc.). Still trying to decide if I should "change" all - and start setting symbolic links to /opt/aixtools/bin from /opt/bin. Still not going to "touch" /usr/bin, etc. - if I can. (There are certain libraries, e.g., libiconv.a that need to be "rebuilt" so that the IBM members are extracted from the IBM archive, and then added to the new archive (that has GNU iconv). And there is a similar issue with zlib (aka libz.a).
Getting back to OpenSSH - my packaging can installed "in parallel" with the AIX version.
the configfiles in /etc/ssh get copied to /etc/openssh/etc
the SRC subsystem gets updated to start /opt/sbin/sshd
the uninstall scripts restore AIX openssh to start from SRC
Looking forward to your feedback!