Re: changing roots on: dpkg -i
On Mon, Dec 15, 2003 at 10:50:17AM -0500, David Z Maze wrote:
> Rob Benton <rob.benton@conwaycorp.net> writes:
>
> > I'm trying to install the xfree86 packages with the /opt directory as
> > root. I've tried using --instdir but the install fails on the
> > pre/postinst scripts. Is there an easy way to do this without having to
> > build my own package?
>
> No. In general, dpkg's options to "change the root" are useful if you
> have a chroot environment, or if you somehow otherwise have a complete
> working system installed somewhere other than / (e.g., you're booted
> off of a rescue CD and your hard disk is mounted on /target or
> something). The best you could do with this approach is install X
> stuff in /opt/usr/X11R6/..., and even that wouldn't work because the X
> server will do things like look for its configuration file in /etc/X11
> (and has, in the Debian build, never heard of /opt).
>
> As far as X goes, IMHO the easiest way to get an XFree86 4.3 X server
> (because that's what you're really after, right?) is to download the
> Xxserv.tgz and Xmod.tgz binary tarballs from xfree86.org, unpack them
> somewhere like /usr/local, and repoint the /etc/X11/X symlink to point
> to them. There are also various backports, plus the ~official Debian
> experimental packages; search the list archives for details. Debian
> in general "doesn't believe in /opt", and relocatable binaries are a
> hard problem that's not real high on the dpkg feature list.
>
> --
> David Maze dmaze@debian.org http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/
> "Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
> -- Abra Mitchell
>
given the recurrence of opt/ related posts, it might be appropriate to
provide an other-distro-refugee howto on debian.org, or, at least, a
specifically new user link to fhs resources. as far as i know, the only
linux distro that automatically assigns and relies on opt/ is suse (last
experience, 8.0; rh 5.0). 3 days of mandrake left me with only a memory
of sheer frustration, so much so that i simply can't remember whether
opt/ was a part of their plan. i know that opt/ is/was a feature of
various *nixes, but i can't see where /usr/local doesn't serve the same
objective already.
ben
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