Unix questions - /usr/local/

This is Interesting: Free IT Magazines  
Home > Archive > Unix questions > March 2004 > /usr/local/





You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread. To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to this thread please [click here]

Author /usr/local/
ITguy_uk

2004-03-29, 10:39 am

I have just completed a clean install of Solaris 8 on a server which
previously had Solaris 7 installed. While trying to install some
third party software I noticed it needed to install a config file in
/usr/local/<appname>. When I looked under /usr/ I was unable to find
the /usr/local directory. I have now created the directory as I have
since found the application has this config file location hard coded
into the product. I have looked on the various Solaris servers we
have here and they all have /usr/local.

My question is why this directory is not present on a clean install.
Is it because this location is not created until third party products
are installed in this location by the user or an install, or have I
missed something ie this location was moved elsewhere in later
versions of Solaris? I am concerned I may not be aware of the reason
for this directory being missing and it will trip me up later.

This is the first complete install of Solaris I have done so I do not
have any experience of working on a new install of Solaris. Any info
would be appreciated.
Michael Tosch

2004-03-29, 1:39 pm

In article <8be6df4c.0403290744.58f14477@posting.google.com>, itguy_uk@hotmail.com (ITguy_uk) writes:
> I have just completed a clean install of Solaris 8 on a server which
> previously had Solaris 7 installed. While trying to install some
> third party software I noticed it needed to install a config file in
> /usr/local/<appname>. When I looked under /usr/ I was unable to find
> the /usr/local directory. I have now created the directory as I have
> since found the application has this config file location hard coded
> into the product. I have looked on the various Solaris servers we
> have here and they all have /usr/local.
>
> My question is why this directory is not present on a clean install.
> Is it because this location is not created until third party products
> are installed in this location by the user or an install, or have I
> missed something ie this location was moved elsewhere in later
> versions of Solaris? I am concerned I may not be aware of the reason
> for this directory being missing and it will trip me up later.


There is no standard place for software installations in Unix.
In the early days /usr was preferred, then /usr/lib.
The Public Domain preferred /usr/local.

/usr/local has never been part of Solaris.
Sun Solaris has preferred /opt in the beginning.
Today Sun has rediscovered /usr, and now preferres directories
like /usr/sfw.

Linux (a child of the Public Domain) has decided for /usr/local,
so it is most easy to go for /usr/local on Sun Solaris, too.

Software packages from
http://sunfreeware.com
install in /usr/local.
The first package will create the /usr/local directory.


--
Michael Tosch
IT Specialist
HP Managed Services Germany
Phone +49 2407 575 313
Mail: michael.tosch@hp.com


Tim Haynes

2004-03-29, 1:39 pm

eedmit@NO.eed.SPAM.ericsson.PLS.se (Michael Tosch) writes:

> Linux (a child of the Public Domain) has decided for /usr/local,
> so it is most easy to go for /usr/local on Sun Solaris, too.


Please be accurate. Linux has no preferences for where it is installed in a
filesystem. GNU/Linux distributions increasingly adhere to the LSB and FHS
standards, meaning that each distribution's own packages install into a
reasonable combination of / and /usr, leaving the sysadmin free to use
/usr/local/ and /opt/ as they wish - normally in that order.

~Tim
--
But mountains are holy places, |piglet@stirfried.vegetable.org.uk
And beauty is free / We can still walk |http://spodzone.org.uk/cesspit/
Through the garden |
Our earth was once green |
Peter J. Acklam

2004-03-30, 1:34 am

eedmit@NO.eed.SPAM.ericsson.PLS.se (Michael Tosch) wrote:

> /usr/local has never been part of Solaris. Sun Solaris has
> preferred /opt in the beginning. Today Sun has rediscovered
> /usr, and now preferres directories like /usr/sfw.


What version of Solaris uses /usr/sfw? Solaris 10? I work with
computers running Solaris 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 7, 8, and 9 and I can't
remember once having seen software under /use/sfw. My workstation
running Solaris 9 has optional software in /opt/sfw.

Peter

--
Peter J. Acklam - pjacklam@online.no - http://home.online.no/~pjacklam
Alan Coopersmith

2004-03-31, 1:38 am

pjacklam@online.no (Peter J. Acklam) writes in comp.unix.questions:
|What version of Solaris uses /usr/sfw? Solaris 10? I work with
|computers running Solaris 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 7, 8, and 9 and I can't
|remember once having seen software under /use/sfw. My workstation
|running Solaris 9 has optional software in /opt/sfw.

Solaris 9 & 10 both do if you do a full installation. /usr/sfw contains
the additional freeware tools included on the OS CD - /opt/sfw is the
software from the separate companion CD. (The Solaris distinction is
that software that comes on the OS CD's belongs in /usr, that which
does not usually goes into /opt.)

--
________________________________________
________________________________
Alan Coopersmith alanc@alum.calberkeley.org
http://www.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU/~alanc/ aka: Alan.Coopersmith@Sun.COM
Working for, but definitely not speaking for, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sponsored Links






Free braindumps | Software forum | Database administration forum

Copyright 2003 - 2008 webservertalk.com