A modest hier proposal

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

On Thu, 12 Sep 2019 23:50:40 -0400
Jim Trigg <jtrigg at huiekin.org> wrote:

> I recommend we reframe the directory structure. Since I'm sure I will 
> get no support for merging the existing / and /usr trees to put all base 
> items in / (/bin, /etc, /lib, /libexec, /share, /sbin),

	There's a lot to be said for doing that, but I too doubt it will
ever happen. Then again similarly drastic things have happened.

> I'm suggesting the following:
> 
> /usr/local -> /pkg

	That would make sense as part of eliminating /usr, otherwise I see
no real point.

> Explicitly define /opt for third-party software that is not in 
> packages/ports.

	There is no way to enforce or even encourage use of it, sure an
empty hierarchy could be shipped but it wouldn't get used reliably.

> Explicitly define /local for locally developed software that has not 
> been packaged as a port/package.

	Same problem.

	As sysadmin you are of course perfectly free to attempt to
impose /local and /opt - I've seen similar things attempted with varying
success. The most successful approach involved making them group maintained
rather than root maintained.

-- 
Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve at sohara.org>