On Tue, 18 Dec 2007, Dan Rue wrote: > With respect, I think you missed the point. I don't doubt you! > Sure, it's possible to do these things in Linux. It's an open source > OS, you can do whatever you want. But can you do it without changing source code and recompiling anything? If it's just a matter of setting file permissions, something like that, it isn't much of a big deal. I mean, you wouldn't really choose an OS based on some of its defaults when those settings could have been configured however you wanted, right? > But in FreeBSD, it's not only default, it's very strict and the same no > matter who's maintaining the machines (unless they go out of their way > to break it, that is). So it's more than just configuration. > So if linux packages by default go in /usr/local, what goes in /? I > know linux configs always go to /etc. I imagine some packages will > install to /bin, and some to /usr/local/bin? Is it just ad-hoc based on > the mood of the maintainer? This is what I mean by having a *strict* > hierarchy. A freebsd port maintainer would get beat if they installed > something to /etc, or to /bin, or to /lib, .. etc. I really don't know the answers to all of these questions. I have mostly been working on Linux systems that are maintained by others (e.g., MSI supercomputers) and I actually do this: ./configure prefix=/home/myhomedir/local I compile everything and decide where it goes. So I haven't been using packages on Linux. That will change shortly, I'm sure! I'm getting the impression that package installation in Linux can be pretty haphazard. Mike