>
>I'd just *love* to be able to shift packages around just as i like, but
>unfortunately, this won't work. As an example, gcc i think has the path to it's
>spec-file and other things quite hard-compiled. :-(((
>

	Almost always you can end up finding a way of puting everithing
where you want. You have at least one way: using links from
the "traditional" place (e.g., /usr/local/lib/...) or whatever.
That doen't prevent installing the real files wherever you want.

	And usually you have better ways, by configuring the package's
environment. For instance, for gnat (based on gcc), you can use
something like this as /usr/local/bin/gcc:

--------------
#!/bin/csh
unlimit
setenv PATH /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/bin:$PATH
setenv GCC_EXEC_PREFIX /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/lib/gcc-lib/i386--netbsd1.0/2.7.2/
setenv ADA_INCLUDE_PATH /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/adainclude
setenv ADA_OBJECTS_PATH /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/lib/gcc-lib/i386--netbsd1.0/2.7.2/adalib
setenv LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/lib/gcc-lib/i386--netbsd1.0/2.7.2/adalib
setenv C_INCLUDE_PATH /usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/lib/gcc-lib/i386--netbsd1.0/2.7.2/include
/usr/local/install/gnat-3.01/bin/gcc
---------------

	This probably works too for plain gcc.

>That's also the reason why i'd really like to settle on one dir *very very
>soon*.
>

	I think that's important, but we should consider it
very carefully. If the decission is not enough open and flexible,
a lot of people is not going to use it... 

		Jesus.

--
Jesus M. Gonzalez Barahona         | addr.:  c/ Butarque, 15
Grupo de Sistemas y Comunicaciones |         28911 Leganes, Spain
Departamento de Informatica        | tel: +34 1 624 94 58
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid   | fax: +34 1 624 94 30
e-mail: jgb@gsyc.inf.uc3m.es       | www: http://ordago.gsyc.inf.uc3m.es/~jgb