Re: File system standard?

[Andreas Kostyrka <andreas ag or at>]

On Sat, 2 May 1998, Eric M. Ludlam wrote:

> Is there a file system standard that specifies where gnome is to be
> installed?  I got the nightly RPMs and everything was installed in
> /usr.  If X is in /usr/X11R6, and CDE is in /usr/dt, and Openwindows
> is in /usr/openwin, then shouldn't gnome be in /usr/gnome?  It would
> have to be added to various paths, but I don't think things like ee
> and gnomine are really the types of programs that belong in /usr/bin.
All the cited examples are old usages grown with the community.
Actually I believe it belongs into /usr if it comes with the OS, and into
/usr/local when installed by the admin.

RPM OTOH blurs the picture, as it tracks the installed packages quite
well, so I prefer usually to have all RPM stuff under with --prefix=/usr.

> 
> I'd recommend the following:
> 
> /usr/gnome/bin
> /usr/gnome/lib
> /usr/gnome/man
> /usr/gnome/doc
> /usr/gnome/include
> 
> /usr/include/gnome* -> /usr/gnome/include/gnome*
symlinks are a bad idea.
> 
> I realize that rpm removes much of the need for segregation, but I
> think this would make life better.
Nope. It just adds -I, -L, PATH=, MANPATH=, ... problems. And
gives absolutly no gain.

Andreas