Jump to content

Where are you installing your extras?


Guest BooYah
 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest BooYah

I ran across this when I was installing OpenOffice 1.1 beta.

 

In one of the manuals that came with Mandrake, it says /opt is the place to put packages not required for system operation. The OpenOffice installer tries to install here by default.

 

However, the same manual tells me that /usr/local is where I should put all of my personal applications.

 

So I went looking for where OpenOffice 1.01 was installed from my Mandrake CD's, and I found it, as well as all my packages not required for system operation are installed in hidden directories in the /root, i.e./root/.OpenOffice. I think anything I've installed via RPM has been put here.

 

I've put a bunch of things, phoenix, Moziila 1.3, Acrobat Reader, idesk, to name a few in /usr/local. Is this the wrong place? If so, why?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, those $HOME/.something are user's own configuration settings for programs... but WTH are you running OO.org as root?! and the other programs??? :shock: :twisted:

 

Root is thougth to be there only for administration tasks, so obviously if you're using the root account rightly it should have the minimum number of files. For example, here is my root/ listing (I'm using mdk 8.1, that means at least one year and a half):

/# ls -a root/

./           .Xdefaults     .bashrc       .vimrc    .xsession-errors

../          .bash_history  .fetchmailrc  .xauth/   Mail/

.Xauthority  .bash_profile  .viminfo      .xinitrc  tmp/

/#

 

About your question about where to put files, here is a link to the Unix Filesystem Hierarchy Standard:

 

3.12 /opt : Add-on application software packages

 

3.12.1 Purpose

 

/opt is reserved for the installation of add-on application software packages.

 

A package to be installed in /opt must locate its static files in a separate /opt/<package> directory tree, where <package> is a name that describes the software package.

 

...

 

4.9 /usr/local : Local hierarchy

 

4.9.1 Purpose

 

The /usr/local hierarchy is for use by the system administrator when installing software locally. It needs to be safe from being overwritten when the system software is updated. It may be used for programs and data that are shareable amongst a group of hosts, but not found in /usr.

 

Locally installed software must be placed within /usr/local rather than /usr unless it is being installed to replace or upgrade software in /usr.

 

The difference between them is in the nature of UNIX, where there used to be a central server and local clients.

 

HTH :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do this:

 

/home user settings/configs

/opt software that I install after the mandrake install

/stuff this where my files go.

 

 

This is fine for a one user system, but I doubt this model would work anywhere else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...