From: "Sean E. Russell" <ser@...>
Date: 2003-12-16T23:24:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Where to install documentation


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On Tuesday 16 December 2003 01:52, Dave Thomas wrote:
> Agreed - it is currently quite messy. However, things such as
> $prefix/bin and the man stuff are all dictated by the Unix environment.
> I'd rather not increase the mess when I add in the RDoc stuff. But
> there's clearly something I'm missing here. Is there an advantage to
> putting stuff under /usr/share?

This may not have any bearing on the matter, but there are a number of syst=
ems=20
that maintain what I call package coherency.  All related files for=20
applications go into the same directory.  You may be familiar with NeXTSTEP=
,=20
or "stow", or "graft".  The main advantage to package coherency is not only=
=20
the ability to 'rm -rf' or 'mv' applications, but also the ability to insta=
ll=20
multiple versions of the same application on the same system.

The main problem with this system, with an application like Ruby, is the fa=
ct=20
that there are libraries that can and should be shared across installations=
=20
of the application.  It also makes it more difficult for application to=20
locate sub-applications, such as Ruby trying to find rdoc.

While any issues with package coherency is solvable, it isn't the Linux way=
=2E =20
Linux (and Unix in general) solves the same problem that package coherency=
=20
does by using package managers.  This, of course, is painful for applicatio=
n=20
developers, who now have to provide RPM, Deb, ebuilds, and whatever else fo=
r=20
their package, or rely on someone else to provide them with some time lag.

Does this help you?  No.  Ruby spews files across the filesystem, in true U=
nix=20
tradition, so my suggestion is that you do, too.

=2D-=20
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