relocatable packages ?

[David Kewley]

On Tuesday 21 June 2005 21:03, Jason L Tibbitts III wrote:
> >>>>> "DK" == David Kewley <kewley at gps.caltech.edu> writes:
>
> DK> I've made relocatable rpms for e.g. Matlab.  My idea is that I
> DK> want it in /opt but my colleague across campus might want it in
> DK> /usr/local/.  No way does it belong in /usr.
>
> I put Matlab in /usr, as with anything that I install using the
> package system.  I'm not sure why something like, say, Octave or
> R would go in /usr but Matlab or Splus wouldn't.

Here's the top level of the matlab install tree:

bin/
demos/
etc/
extern/
help/
java/
license.txt
rtw/
simulink/
stateflow/
sys/
toolbox/
update/
X11/

Do you dump all these into /usr?  Do you create /usr/matlab or 
something?  Neither seems correct or desirable to me.  That's what /opt 
is for.

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#OPTADDONAPPLICATIONSOFTWAREPACKAGES

> DK> Is there something wrong with using relocations in such a case?
>
> Try installing your package via kickstart.  Or yum.  You will find
> that there is no way to relocate anything.

Yeah.  I guess I've never considered that seriously, because I build the 
package to do what I want. ;)  I suppose my (/usr/local)-using 
colleague across campus could handle relocations with a simple script 
instead of a package manager.

As for kickstart, %post is a fine place to install a relocatable 
package.  Updating it requirs another approach, of course.

Package managers (e.g. yum) are great, but they aren't the *only* tool, 
and I don't think their arrival on the scene renders relocations evil 
or useless.

David