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Re: [LUG] /opt

 

On 26/12/09 19:56, Neil Williams wrote:
On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:58:47 +0000
James Fidell<james@xxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:

Neil Williams wrote:
On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:51:18 +0000 (GMT)
Peter Lloyd-Jones<peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:

As you know I am a model railroad enthusiast.  Currently we tend to
let the user store the programme Java Model Railroad Interface in
his home directory.

I was wondering if in fact it should live in /opt.
NO. No, No, never, absolutely not, under no circumstances, no
excuses, must not, can not, do not.!!!
I'm going to create my own data file under /opt right now, just to see
if Neil's head explodes :)
I put all my development work under /opt - the point is that a package
must not do so - precisely because /opt/ can be used for such purposes
and there is no way of knowing whether stuff exists in the directory
contained in the package. Packages must not override user data and
as /opt/ is reserved for user data (where user can also mean local
admin use), packages have no right to put anything there.

Version 2.3 of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (in part) states:

"/opt is reserved for the installation of add-on application software packages. A package to be installed in /opt must locate its static ïles in a separate /opt/<package> or /opt/<provider> directory tree, where <package> is a name that describes the software package and
<provider> is the providerâs LANANA registered name."

and

"The directories /opt/bin, /opt/doc, /opt/include, /opt/info, /opt/lib, and /opt/man are reserved for local system administrator use. Packages may provide "front-end" ïles intended to be placed in (by linking or copying) these reserved directories by the local system administrator, but must function normally in the absence
of these reserved directories."

See http://www.pathname.com/fhs/ for details.

If anyone knows of a later version, please post...






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