[gentoo-dev] Why the FHS can't be followed

[Dan Armak <danarmak@gentoo.org>]

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On Tuesday 02 July 2002 05:38, Collins wrote:
> OK, that much is clear.  So how do you resolve /usr/kde/2 ... with the
> prohibition you've cited?
>
> "Large software packages must not use a direct subdirectory under the
> /usr hierarchy."

<sorry, I sent a personal reply to Collins before realizing I should have used 
reply-to-list>

If KDE lives directly in /usr (i.e. binaries in /usr/bin etc.) then you cannot 
have more than one version of kde installed at a time. More than that, you 
cannot have more than one version of kdelibs at a time, so if you have kde3 
in /usr you can't run kde2 apps. And some people need to do just that because 
not all kde2 apps have been ported to kde3 yet.

Last autumn we tried to make KDE live in /usr with just kdelibs living 
separately in /usr/lib/kde/2,3. I spent 3 months trying to make it work to 
keep the fhs guys happy and came to the conclusion it just isn't meant to be. 
It may be possible, but it's very ugly.

This is mainly because some KDE apps work on the assumption that they are 
installed in the same path as the kdelibs they're linked against. Koffice for 
one. There are ways around that but they don't always work. Fex. one of the 
things that never worked was noatun. When I askd the kde devs for help on how 
to make noatun work when installed outside the kdelibs directory they 
explicitly told me: it's not supposed to be done (in this case, couldn't be 
without playing with symlniks - ugh). KDE needs to live in its own dir 
outside the standard path. That's what $KDEDIR[S] is for and if we don't do 
it that way we'll come to no good.

And since we've come to the conclusion we can't put it in /opt, /usr/kde/2,3 
(or equivalent) is the only option left. The fhs doesn't provide for having 
more than one version of a package installed at a time but we have to do it 
with qt2/3 and kdelibs2/3 (and gnome 1.4/2). I prefer that option over 100% 
FHS compliance.

End rant mode. I guess I just had leftover frustration stored from the time I 
actually tried to make this work. Maybe we can put a version of this in a FAQ 
somewhere because this isn't the first time this question has been asked. 
Maybe if that fhs guy saw it he'd think twice before blaming us. The fhs just 
doesn't accomodate certain things.

- - -- 
Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux developer (KDE)
Matan, Israel

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