On Fri, 2005-09-16 at 08:12 -0400, Steve Snyder wrote: > Is there a standard or rule-of-thumb regarding location of non-distribution > software packages? I've read the HFS spec, but I'm still not clear on this. > > Some packages, both RPM-based and tarballs, want to install in /opt and others > in /usr/local. I don't perceive a pattern to where a given type of > installation prefers to install its files. > > Given a choice in locations, where should I opt to install RPM packages, and > where should non-RPM software go? > My preference is to put things which are spread out over the filesystem (e.g. <prefix>/bin, <prefix>/lib, <prefix>/man, etc.) into /usr/local. Also, one-file packages (like alac) I usually stick in /usr/local as well. Things which are (or which I'd like to keep) self-contained in one directory hiearchy (e.g. <prefix>/<pkg>/bin, <prefix>/<pkg>/lib, etc.) I put into opt. The nice thing about the latter is that you can just rm -rf <prefix>/<pkg> and be done with it. Note that I usually don't follow the FHS for /opt by creating an /opt/bin and other 2nd level directories that I'm supposed to. I rarely see the point of that (then it's basically the same as /usr/local). -- prothonotar at tarnation dot dyndns dot org
