I am wondering where I should install software at. Taking look at the the Fllesystem Hierarchy Standard site (http://pathname.com), it has the following definitions:

/usr/local - for use by the system administrator when installing software locally.
/opt - reserved for the installation of add-on application software packages.

They both seem to say the samething, or are they?

Should I maybe put system type software (i.e. java runtime. mysql, etc.) into /usr/local and user specific software (open office, mp3 players, etc.) into /opt?

Let me know what you guys/girls think.

cheers,

scott

I mount /usr/local to its own partition, and use it for all software that I compile from source. Most source packages install to /usr/local as default.

/opt is used by some distros, like Slackware, but not others (like Kanotix). Its use depends on your distro. Some distros will put self-contained packages (like Mozilla and OpenOffice) there; I believe Slack puts KDE and Gnome there too.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. Both locations are there for you to use so that user-installed software doesn't get mixed up with your distro-installed software.

I compile Software to my /usr/local/src and it works fine for me.

/opt is for "self-contained" software. For example, you would install Netscape and Java there:

/opt/java2/bin, lib, doc...
/opt/netscape/bin, ...

Every file is inside /opt/name of program/. So you usually have to edit PATH.

/usr/local is for programs that follow the Unix structure (binaries in $prefix/bin, includes in $prefix/include...). Hence if the program you want to install is "Unix-compliant" and lets you choose the prefix, then you should install it in /usr/local.

That's the theory. Myself, I've found that programs installed in /usr/local are difficult to manage/upgrade/uninstall, because all files of all programs are together.
So I chose to do it "GoboLinux-like": I install the programs under /opt/program name/.
Example for Matchbox: I install it under prefix /opt/matchbox-0.8.4. As I see it, it is OK because then, the program *is* self-contained. And to make it work like if it were in /usr/local, I create symbolic links of everything under /opt/matchbox-0.8.4 from there to /usr/local. I end-up with links like that:
/usr/local/bin/matchbox-session -> /opt/matchbox-0.8.4/bin/matchbox-session

Yves.

If you install something, it usually goes into /usr/local/bin or, if it's an administrative application, /usr/local/sbin.
Sometimes you see extra applications in /opt. Any applications that come pre-installed with your OS, or installed by the OS
developer's pre-compiled repositories, will usually end up in /bin or /sbin.