Re: Commercial .debs

[Raul Miller <rdm@test.legislate.com>]

Oliver Elphick <olly@lfix.co.uk> wrote:
> Should we say, for example, that any commercial package should put all
> its files under /opt/<package> or /usr/local/commercial/<package> or
> something of the kind?
>
> What other guidance is needed?

They should go under /opt/ -- /usr/local is reserved for the
sysadmin.

There are a variety of other places that may need to be touched (for
example, /etc/init.d/ and /etc/rc?.d/, /etc/cron.{daily,weekly,monthly},
/var/something/, /home/specialized-user/, ...).  Presumably they'll
choose something with their brand name in it for most things they create
in these areas, but this is a practice we should encourage -- it helps
us manage our name space.

I think we need to recommend that all fixed data reside in /opt/,
and that they contact us to work out the best way of addressing any
additional needs.  [figuring out where to put a data repository, init
scripts, cron scripts, documentation, ...]

As we get some experience with the kinds of needs specific to a commercial
package we can make our life easier by documenting our practices.

Note that the biggest risk with commercial guidelines is: these packages
are going to have a life which will extend years beyond when we want to
phase out that instance of our standards.  So we really ought to provide
an interface for commercial packages to use, along the lines
of
	install-opt man /opt/$wherever/man
	install-opt cron daily /opt/$wherever/$cronscript
	install-opt init 3 S --after nfs K --before nfs /opt/$wherever/$rcscript
	install-opt sharedlib /opt/$wherever/*.so.$a.$b.$c
etc.

Or maybe this concept of install-opt is just too ugly to stomach, which
means we need to create an /opt/etc/, /opt/bin/, /opt/doc/, /opt/include/,
/opt/info/, /opt/lib/, /opt/man/, /opt/sbin/, /opt/share/, /opt/src/,
/opt/var/, /opt/X11R6/, ... and make sure that all relevant programs
respect these locations.  [Personally, I think this is not as good of
a solution, but thinking about a problem from the viewpoint of several
different solutions is a good way to gain insight.]

-- 
Raul