Re: FHS && ./configure

[Raja R Harinath]

Hi,

Gioele Barabucci <address@hidden> writes:
> Why don't you set mandir and infodir to PREFIX/share/{man,info}
> instead of PREFIX/{man,info}?

It just happens that './configure --prefix=/usr' generates an install
that almost satisfies the FHS.  There are a number of differences,
though and I don't think we can or should mandate that './configure
--prefix=/usr' should conform to the FHS.

  * FHS requires the use of /etc, GNU configure would use /usr/etc

  * According to FHS /usr/include is architecture dependent.  GNU
    configure treats PREFIX/include as architecture independent (it is
    in PREFIX, after all)

  * GNU configure supports only one 'bindir' and only one 'libdir'.

You can usually use the following command to generate something more
FHS compliant

  ./configure --prefix=/usr \
              --sysconfdir=/etc \
              --infodir=/usr/share/info \
              --mandir=/usr/share/man

However this is not always right.  FHS may require some of the
binaries be installed in /bin and /lib rather than /usr/bin and
/usr/lib, etc.

All in all, it is better not to use 'configure'/'make install' to
manage your system binaries but use some kind of packaging system.

- Hari
-- 
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ address@hidden
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash