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On 27/12/09 08:33, Michael Mortimore wrote:
On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:43:07 -0000, g_remlin <g_remlin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:This is an over-simplification but hopefully conveys the intent of these two separate directory trees....What's the difference between /opt and /usr/local? I did read (bits of) the link but to me it seems like they serve the same purpose.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 absenceof these reserved directories." See http://www.pathname.com/fhs/ for details. If anyone knows of a later version, please post...
/opt tree is for use by applications PACKAGED BY ANYONE OTHER than your OS Distributor (Ubuntu ?). For example, the fictitious application "Wurd 1v0" packaged & distributed by "GatesSoft" would (should under the FHS) install into /opt/GatesSoft/Wurd1v0 possibly using your distributions official package manager (apt ?). The package may also optionally copy/symlink into /opt/bin, /opt/lib etc. on the proviso that it does not modify/ovewrite any existing file without the sysadmin's permission.
/usr/local tree is for manual installation by the sysadmin. This is not packaged software, and usually compiled from source (and sometimes written) by the sysadmin, or occasionally downloaded as a binary tar.gz.
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