Simple HowTo

[Robin Laing]

Aldo Foot wrote:
> 
>     I hope I am not off-topic, but one thing that sorta bothers
>     me is that many, if not *most* applications are being placed
>     in /usr/share as if a catchall place?  It seems to contain more
>     than 50% of /usr space alone?
> 
>     It seems to me, that many applications such as 'games' for example,
>     ought to be in it's own common directory such as /usr/(local/)games
>     so that these (large) applications can be easily symlinked/mounted
>     elsewhere if need be, otherwise it can be bothersome to move, mount,
>     or symlink these otherwise potentially large applications?
> 
>     I wonder what the point is of having /usr/games, /usr/local if
>     no one seems to use these otherwise mostly empty directories?
> 
>     I seem to think it might be an added bonus giving the installer
>     the choice as to where to install their application(s)?
> 
>     Just wondering.
> 
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> 
> 
> 
>     <https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list>
> 
> 
> This might answer the /usr/share question:
> 
> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-4.11.html
> 
> "Any program or package which contains or requires data that doesn't 
> need to be modified should store that data in /usr/share (or 
> /usr/local/share, if installed locally). It is recommended that a 
> subdirectory be used in /usr/share for this purpose.
> 
> Game data stored in /usr/share/games must be purely static data. Any 
> modifiable files, such as score files, game play logs, and so forth, 
> should be placed in /var/games."
> 
> ~af
> 

Aw, you beat me to it.

I also have this as more of a description from the Linux Standards Base.

Installing Your Application in the Right Place
http://www.linux-foundation.org/docs/lsbbook/install-app.html

Following a set standards would solve one issue with commercial 
acceptance of Linux.  Finding everything in the same spot for all 
distributions.


-- 
Robin Laing