/opt is missing

[Alan Mckinnon]

On Fri, 2006-08-18 at 08:09 -0500, Christofer C. Bell wrote:
> On 8/18/06, Alan Mckinnon <alan at linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> > On Fri, 2006-08-18 at 18:37 +1000, Erik Christiansen wrote:
> > > While "man hier" says:
> > >
> > > /opt   This directory should contain add-on packages that contain
> > > static files.
> > >
> > I never saw that definition before, but it does make sense if you think
> > about it - 3rd party binaries are usually statically compiled.
> 
> I believe static in this case means unchanging as opposed to
> statically linked.  The idea being that /opt can be mounted read-only
> and any variable data should be kept in /var/opt and /tmp.  I don't
> know of many packages that obey this last suggestion, however (of not
> keeping variable data in /opt along with the rest of the application).

I think it's more a case of the person who wrote the man page didn't
know what static means and botched it. It's not so much that packages
with static files go in /opt, but that third party apps must locate
their static files (if any) in /opt/<package_name>/{man,doc,info} or
similar. From
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/opt.html

"1.13. /opt
"This directory is reserved for all the software and add-on packages
that are not part of the default installation. For example, StarOffice,
Kylix, Netscape Communicator and WordPerfect packages are normally found
here. To comply with the FSSTND, all third party applications should be
installed in this directory. Any package to be installed here must
locate its static files (ie. extra fonts, clipart, database files) in a
separate /opt/'package' or /opt/'provider' directory tree (similar to
the way in which Windows will install new software to its own directory
tree C:\Windows\Progam Files\"Program Name"), where 'package' is a name
that describes the software package and 'provider' is the provider's
LANANA registered name."

alan