[Slackbuilds-users] Problems with g-wrap-1.9.6

[Robby Workman]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Rich Shepard wrote:

> Just to satisfy my curiosity, why is the --prefix=/usr instead of
> /usr/local? Wouldn't a personal finance manager be considered a strictly
> local application?


This one is for the archives - it's basically copied and pasted from
a previous email exchange with someone else (thanks to that person,
who shall remain nameless unless he/she chooses to identify
him/herself).


Conversation was in reference to the FHS, in particular, this part:
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#USRLOCALLOCALHIERARCHY


> Now, your email states:
>
> "since the intent of a SlackBuild script is to build a package, it
> really shouldn't be putting anything in /usr/local."
>
> If that is your rule, that's fine & I can live with it, but would
> like to know why you aren't staying with the standard. What is the
> difference between a "package" & "locally installed software"?


Here's my rationale (and it's shared by the rest of the SBo team):
Software installed by a means other than packages needs to go to
/usr/local so that it's easier to track.  Ideally, you build it in
/usr/local/src (and leave the source directory there) so that if you
ever need/want to uninstall it, you can go back to the source dir and
call "make uninstall" (assuming the 'uninstall' target is present in
the software's Makefile).

On the other hand, when you build a package of some software and then
install that package, the whole maintenance issue is, well, not an
issue.  The package can be managed just like the remainder of the
packages installed on the distribution.  Essentially, the distinction
is something like this:  packaged software goes in /usr (or perhaps
/opt) while locally compiled (NON-PACKAGED) software goes in
/usr/local.  Does that make sense?

FWIW, the FHS is for the most part a good thing.  Some of the things
it requires can be a bit ornery at times though, and as you've seen,
some of the standards are open to interpretation.

RW
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.2 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFF45w07QPvQNDlLwQRAveTAJ4/C52nGKEm4dPfXCjUkuvICWYHQgCePu1G
vexdgiOVFaOBqhZC9NY2RAQ=
=nv5B
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----