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.

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In article <8be6df4c.0403290744.58f14477@posting.google.com>, itguy_uk@hotmail.com (ITguy_u
k) 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

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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                    |

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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

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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.

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