Les Mikesell wrote:
On Fri, 2005-09-16 at 07:54, David Mackintosh wrote:
Given a choice in locations, where should I opt to install RPM packages, and
where should non-RPM software go?
Wherever you think you'll find it later. :)
We've gone through several iterations here. If the software is going
to be used by multiple machines, I put it in /usr/local because my
/usr/local tree is nfs-shared across my network. (Yes, I'm grimly
aware of a non-local 'local' directory.) If it is a major package
that is likely to be superceded by a superior version in the future,
it generally gets installed into /tools which is an autofs, and users
get directed to manipulate their environments so that they can use
the appropriate version. If it is going to be run locally, or is
important that it only run locally (because it keeps some kind of
state that is important), then it gets installed in /opt.
No matter what you chose, someone will always have an excellent
reason why it should go somewhere else.
Exactly. This is sort of like asking what private IP address
range you should use for a local network. In that case the
answer is one that isn't used by a company you might merge
with... Likewise for software you just need to use a space
that no one else will use. Things that install from source
usually go under /usr/local by default with a configure
option to move elsewhere. Packaged items that aren't part
of a standard distribution often go under /opt.
Hi, Guys
FWIW, I defined /opt as a symbolic link to /usr/local primarily so
they could share the same partition. While there are exceptions,
packages which normally install in /opt usually create a unique
subdirectory /opt/<product>, while packages which install in /usr/local
use the standard subdirectories, ./bin, ./lib, etc. so I can tell who
got there by which path.
Cheers,
Gordon Keehn
