[TriLUG] question about FHS

[Greg Cox]

> How do you tell the difference between when software should be
> installed into /opt vs. /usr/local ? Is there a rule of thumb ?

There's no hard/fast rule.  The convention I've always gone by is: if I
have to compile it, it goes in /usr/local (e.g. tinyfugue, messagewall);
if it comes as a package (e.g.  oracle, netscape (before it came bundled
with the distro)) that sits neatly in one directory, it goes in /opt.

Whatever makes the most maintainable and logical sense, though, go with it.