Jim Wise <jimw@numenor.turner.com> writes:

  > On Mon, 24 Mar 1997, Mike Long wrote:
  >> >As someone else pointer out, /usr/local is the place for *local* code...
  >> >(That is, code built on site.)  I do _not_ want to count on the package
  >> >tree never conflicting with my taste in installed packages...
  >> 
  >> I don't think you understood my point.  The ports mechanism and binary
  >> packages are an *optional* alternative to building third-party
  >> software yourself.  If a package conflicts with your preferences, you
  >> are always free to build it yourself instead.

  > But I expect most people will to use some packages from the ports tree
  > and build some locally...  I think there should be a clean seperation
  > between thte two cases...

I'll second that. The point is, I should be able to just get a new
usr-contrib binary distribution, un-package it and not affect any
truly local modifications in /usr/local.

There is one exception I can think of, and that is X. I'd argue that
the offical X release should go in the default project root, but the
Imake system should be be configured so additional things are
installed by default somewhere else (/usr/local/X11..). I haven't
quite figured out how I should make it do that though.

One of the annoying details in installing stuff is figuring out where
it should go. It is annonying to do a lengthy build, do a "make -n
install".  Realize some things are not going to go where you want and
have to repeat the whole process. An "official" place for stuff would
be a help.

A really useful thing would be to have a packages config file which
has site preferences and modify everything on the fly. I can see that
would be viable for src packages, but probably impractical for binary
packages.

With the GNU autoconfig system, I keep wondering why it has to figure
out all that stuff about my sytem for *every* package. Also, why can't
I just specify a --prefix once somewhere instead of having to remember
each time.  (And the default might be /usr/gnu /usr/local or
/usr/local/gnu at least).


Ian