[qmtest] Installation of qm-2.0.3-0.i386.rpm

[Nathaniel Smith]

On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 01:10:18PM -0600, George Kraft wrote:
> It would be nice if qm-2.0.3-0.i386.rpm would install in
> /opt/codesourcery/qm/ instead of /usr/local/ per the FHS and LSB.
> 
> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-3.12.html
> 
> http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=4121
> 
> http://www.linuxbase.org/spec/errata/errata/execenv.html

The FHS states ( http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-4.9.html ):
   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.
That sounds like a reasonable location for local qmtest installs to
me, and it's my understanding that so long as you're not using a RPM
provided by Redhat (which would install to /usr), it's considered a
local install...

The Linux Journal article you link to talks about the FHS, and then
says that /opt is the correct place for RPMs to install.  While it's
true that "...the LSB...established the /opt/ directory for add-on
software", /usr/local is blessed in the standards with a similar role.
Nowhere does the article actually provide a citation describing why
/opt/ should be preferred over /usr/local/...

There's also the fact that the layout of /opt is rather obnoxious,
necessitating changes to PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, etc. every time a new
package is installed.  But this just might be my bias from growing up
in an /opt-free world...

Am I totally misreading the standards here?  Or is there some de-facto
standard for RPM-based systems on how the /opt vs. /usr/local
ambiguity should be resolved?  My Debian system doesn't even _have_ an
/opt...

-- Nathaniel

-- 
When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
  -- The Conundrum of the Workshops, Rudyard Kipling