Very Computer

Blake LeBaron

Bob T.

--
Markus Kossmann                                    

Basically, they are redundant and confusing.  I tend to not permit /opt
to exist on my systems.  I relocate everything that wants to go there
into /usr/local.

praedor

        rm -r /opt/kde is actually a quite nice thing to be able to do.

Quote:>I don't care if it goes to /opt or /usr/local but it would be real nice
>if a generic standard were decided for linux (all distros).  All things

[deletia]

        Nope, /opt is meant for a different sort of structure than /usr/local.

--

    In what language does 'open' mean 'execute the evil contents of'    |||
    a document?      --Les Mikesell                                    / | \

                                      Need sane PPP docs? Try penguin.lvcm.com.

<snip>

Quote:>Another thing to consider is the size of the package.
>Things that're huge, like KDE, Gnome, WP, etc also tend to
>go into /opt.

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Quote:> . . . It doesn't matter if a package wants to be all
>together since being all together can be accomplished in
>or out of /opt. It can all be kept together in its own
>directory under /usr/local every bit as easily as it can
>under /opt. Basically, they are redundant and confusing.
>I tend to not permit /opt to exist on my systems.  I
>relocate everything that wants to go there into /usr/local.

I think the following case could be made for the presence
of both /usr/local and /opt. Commercial applications change
infrequently, and could be located on read-only media.
Indeed, if the software only needed to add directories and
files to /etc and individual users' HOME directories, then
there could be mount points under /opt for CDs containing
these packages.

Noncommercial software is more likely to use traditional
subdirectory hierarchy (bin, doc, lib, man, etc.), and it's
likely to change more frequently. There's more of an
argument for it to be located on read-write media to
accomodate such changes.

We could take this further. Why is there a /usr/games
directory? Shouldn't everything be under /usr/local/games?
If /opt is unnecessary, what's the point of /mnt since
mount points could be created under /tmp? However, I go the
other way. If /opt and /usr/local were for commercial and
noncommercial packages, respectively, /opt shouldn't be
copied from machine to machine but /usr/local could be,
and /opt and /usr/local could have different backup admin.

[Getting very esoteric, /opt/<package> could contain
multiple subdirectories for different architectures,
e.g., /opt/XYZ/i386, /opt/XYZ/PPC, /opt/XYZ/sparc
and /opt/XYZ/noarch, in which case a single /opt could be
shared across a network of heterogenous machines. On the
other hand, /usr/local is pretty clearly machine-specific.
But this goes back to whether /opt/bin makes sense.]

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--

Are you all unaware of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard?
(http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.0/fhs-toc.html)
Or are you disagreeing about what it says?

-Tom

Once the package is installed, you would then run opt_depot and it
makes the links to your /usr/local/ directory.  This makes it easy to
delete packages, etc.  You also only need to have the /usr/local/bin
directory in your path.

There are several other programs that allow you to do the same thing.
The last time I looked at the opt_depot web page, it had links to
this software.

Try here for the software:

http://www.arlut.utexas.edu/csd/opt_depot

--
Frank Hahn

"Who cares if it doesn't do anything?  It was made with our new
Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..."

Quote:> Are you all unaware of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard?
> (http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.0/fhs-toc.html)
> Or are you disagreeing about what it says?

;-)

SCNR,
Thomas
--
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=

-  "It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw."  (M. C.)  -
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=

There's just as big a discrepancy (FHS notwithstanding) to apps that
want to install in /usr/lib.  And occasionally /var/lib.  And where to
put source code that you download?  --/usr/local/src, /usr/src, etc.?

(Note 1: used Slackware for years, but have to support RH customers.
 Note also that to share /home and /var/spool/mail, you have to keep
 UIDs and GIDs in sync between the two.)

--
Dave Brown  Austin, TX

Quote:

>Are you all unaware of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard?
>(http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.0/fhs-toc.html)
>Or are you disagreeing about what it says?

        That doc says that /usr/local is an iteration of /usr reserved for
        'local use' and /opt conforms to the /opt/<atomic package> format.

        This is not significantly different than how both have been used
        for 5+ years now on Linux and Solaris.

--

    In what language does 'open' mean 'execute the evil contents of'    |||
    a document?      --Les Mikesell                                    / | \

                                      Need sane PPP docs? Try penguin.lvcm.com.

It isn't really. Yes I too put ...

: as opposed to symlinks in /usr/local/bin.

: I think the following case could be made for the presence
: of both /usr/local and /opt. Commercial applications change

You don't need a case. It's easy: /usr: the distro: /usr/local: you
/opt: A Third Party.

: We could take this further. Why is there a /usr/games
: directory? Shouldn't everything be under /usr/local/games?

No. Rogue/Hack are "official". No distro is complete without them.

Peter

No they don't. /usr/local is for your additions. /opt is for (large)
third party additions.

: I don't care if it goes to /opt or /usr/local but it would be real nice
: if a generic standard were decided for linux (all distros).  All things

There is one. Try reading it. FSSTND.

: Basically, they are redundant and confusing.  I tend to not permit /opt
: to exist on my systems.  I relocate everything that wants to go there

I like /opt. Good idea. Now if they would just start up a
/usr/dist as well as /usr/local.

Peter