perfsonar development work

[Jochen Reinwand <>]

On Mittwoch, 24. September 2008, Gijs Molenaar wrote:
> Jochen Reinwand wrote:
> > Hi Gijs,
> >
> > sorry to say that, but you are really wrong.
> > What you describe is only applicable for /usr/local and even there it is
> > not really strictly forbidden to install software the way perfsonar is
> > doing it.
> >
> > LSB is not really saying much about /opt and filesystem hierarchy at all.
> > See one interesting part here:
>
> Implicitly it does.
>
> http://refspecs.linux-foundation.org/LSB_3.2.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-ge
>neric/execenvfhs.html

Indeed! Must have overlooked that...

> > Looks like the way perfSONAR installs is basically OK, but we can do some
> > tuning here...
> > One big problem is, that the Java part of perfSONAR is a web service and
> > not really a normal application. LSB and FHS cannot easily be applied
> > here.
> >
> > The rules you are referring to are most likely Debian specific and AFAIK
> > only of interest if you want to get your package included in the Debian
> > distribution. Because then you create a "system packages" and these
> > packages are indeed not allowed to put something in /opt. Just as LSB and
> > FHS imply.
>
> Well, not really system packages, just correct packages. The idea of
> packaging is that your software is integrated into your distribution and
> the management of the files is done by the package manager.
>
> http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s9.1
>
> Darn, I can't find anything about /opt, only about /usr/local and this
> isn't allowed.
>
> Ok I misquoted the LSB, but I remember that somewhere is defined that
> using /opt is a bad idea, can't find where. In pactice it isn't used in
> packages, so I don't see why perfSONAR should use it. People wouldn't
> expect stuff to be installed in /usr/local or /opt when a package is used.

I think this problem is also related to the "new" way of package management. 
A 
few years ago I normally expected software that is not directly included in 
the distribution to install in /opt or /usr/local. But today third party 
repositories are quite common. Packages from the repositories you normally 
expect to install just like system packages.
So we have:
1. Third party software from a "common" package repository. Most likely 
managed by someone else, not the third party. => system packages
2. Software directly from a third party vendor. Very often not as a normal 
package and most likely not via a repository. => /opt

perfSONAR is at the moment the special case between 1. and 2.: From a third 
party vendor, but as a proper system repository. Not that easy to decide, I 
think...

greetings,
Jochen

-- 
Jochen Reinwand, DFN-Labor
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Regionales RechenZentrum Erlangen (RRZE)
Martensstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Tel. +49 9131 85-28689, -28800, Fax +49 9131 302941

www.win-labor.dfn.de