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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Redhat kde package config
From:       John Corey <whoop () mtco ! com>
Date:       1999-08-31 16:27:31
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Troy Engel wrote:
> 
> Andreas Pour wrote:
> >
> > This is required to comply with the Linux File System Standard.  Anything
> > distributed by the initial distributor (in this case RedHat) is supposed
> 
> OK, we've made the distinction clear; /usr contains static shareable
> data as supplied by the base distribution, whereas /opt contains our
> static shareable data as an add-in package.  On RedHat CD, they shipped
> 1.1.1pre2 RPM files (ugh) using /usr. On the ftp.kde.org site, the RPMs
> are using /opt.  Both cases are justified 100%.
> 
> Now, is KDE 1.(1.)2 considered an add-on package, or part of the
> filesystem?  Personally I'm running the ftp.kde.org RPMs of 1.1.1, even
> on my RedHat 6.0 box, thus making it an add-in package.  Ergo, the new
> RPMs we make should be /opt based, just as always. (If anyone remembers,
> I'm a big /opt proponent...)

It depends on from where you get the package.  If you want
Redhat/Mandrake/whatever official packages, go to their sites.  They
should have the packages installed in /usr as their installation does. 
We at KDE are an independant third party, so our packages would go in
/opt.  Sure users won't know this at first, so slap a bunch of warnings
on the web pages, news announcements, maybe a pre-install script to the
rpm, etc, that our packages aren't necessarily compatible with the
distribution vendor's packages.  If you want the latest real fast,
uninstall the vendor packages, and then install kde.org packages. 
Realize that will take reconfiguring, or copying of the share dir to the
new location.

> This brings about a difficulty - what are RedHat's packaging plans for
> 1.(1.)2 release? Will they do it? Will they just forget about it, and
> users rely upon the KDE team?  Will the KDE team produce /opt RPMs, then
> RedHat come out a month later with their own?

Will RedHat provide updates, or just wait for their next release (6.1
probably)?  From what I've seen in their updates/ dir on their ftp, they
only update packages with major problems (security issues, major
problems, etc).  They don't provide every new program's updated rpm,
though that would be nice.  I guess they leave it to the community
uploading to contrib.  But then, they aren't exactly vendor sanctioned
packages, so no guarantees. :)

> 
> I would like to encourage RedHat to forget making the RPMs, and leave it
> up to the KDE team.  The worst thing that can happen is that we have Yet
> Another Release(tm) where there are two install bases, which does
> nothing but cause headaches for the end user.  Even though all my RPMs
> (http://kde.tdyc.com) are relocateable, the average usr doesn't check a
> package before installing it to see if any care has to be taken.
> Letting the KDE team handle the packaging issues thereby justifies a
> /opt hierarchy.
> 
> Does anyone have the ear of RedHat? Anyone know what they're planning?
> Whatever we do, we should work together and not against each other.
> 
> -te
> PS: I have to agree with Mosfet, thousands of binaries in /usr/bin is
> just plain wrong to my anal organizational brain. My kde binaries are in
> /opt/kde/bin, right where I can find all 200 of them. Speaking of
> /usr/bin, why the hell would an organizer put both console and X
> binaries in the same location? Sigh.

I was going to mention that.  The FHS's bit on /usr/X11R6 is it's "for
the X Window System, version 11 release 6, and related files."  So, it's
a matter of how you want to define "related files."  Is any X program
(KDE, Gnome, Netscape, XMMS, etc) X-related, or are only X11/XFree86
specific files related?

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