On Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 10:57:55PM +0100, Saqib Shaikh wrote:

Hi,

I have just started using SuSE. The first thing I find different to distributions such as RedHat, Debian and Slackware is the location of various files, most notably documentation being in /usr/share/doc and not /usr/doc. In any case, this leads to a slight problem, namely that if I install a RPM from RedHat the files will go where RedHat likes them to go, and not where SuSE would like them to go. For example, I installed an Emacs extension, the files were put in /usr/doc, /usr/site-lisp etc, instead of the /usr/share equivalent. Is there a way to convert RedHat RPMs to SuSE ones, or a guide to the SuSE way of arranging files so that I may rebuild a few RPMs?

I know it doesn't really matter where they go but it'd be nice to be standard.

I've come up with nothing from looking searching the web and the SuSE Support DataBase, so any help would be much appreciated.

Aye and there's the rub... This is a real pain in the butt. There is a file system hierarchy standard for Linux (I forget it's proper name) and I believe Suse more or less conforms to it, at least it makes a big song-and-dance about it. Every new release you find things moved. I don;t know if you can convert other distro's RPM's, but when I install new stuff now I never use RPM's, you can almost always find a .tgz as well, and they give much more predictable results. I usually un-install anything I am replacing with a new version first, after saving configuration files etc. -- Regards Cliff

On Tue, 18 Sep 2001, Saqib Shaikh wrote:

I have just started using SuSE.

Welcome aboard.

The first thing I find different to distributions such as RedHat, Debian and Slackware is the location of various files, most notably documentation being in /usr/share/doc and not /usr/doc.

SuSE used to have the docu below /usr/doc as well, but we moved this tree to /usr/share/doc for better FHS compliance.

In any case, this leads to a slight problem, namely that if I install a RPM from RedHat the files will go where RedHat likes them to go, and not where SuSE would like them to go. For example, I installed an Emacs extension, the files were put in /usr/doc, /usr/site-lisp etc, instead of the /usr/share equivalent. Is there a way to convert RedHat RPMs to SuSE ones, or a guide to the SuSE way of arranging files so that I may rebuild a few RPMs?

If the RPM spec file uses macros for this path names (e.g. %{_mandir}), a simple rebuild of the RPM should do the job. Genererally speaking, the FHS (File System Hierarachy Standard) is the guide for us. In addition to that, I am working on a document (see my home page) that describes some other packagagin issues.

I know it doesn't really matter where they go but it'd be nice to be standard.

There's nothing wrong with that :) Bye, LenZ -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Lenz Grimmer SuSE GmbH mailto:grimmer@suse.de Schanzaeckerstr. 10 http://www.suse.de/~grimmer/ 90443 Nuernberg, Germany Spring: When anglers get that faraway lake in their eyes.