I believe what you want to look at is LSB (Linux Standards Base) - Herman Zach Smith wrote:
Ahhhh...I knew that title would make you look;-). Seriously though, is there a "standard" that most software developers in Linux follow with regards to where programs and files are installed on the disk? The reason I ask is because SuSE installs some of its various packages in places which are different from the software developer.
For example, SuSE installs Mozilla in "/opt/mozilla" whereas the non-RPM download from the Mozilla sight defaults to "/usr/local/mozilla". The same holds true for OpenOffice. I upgraded to 1.0.3 and it installed in "/usr/local/OpenOffice.org 1.0.3". SuSE installed the earlier version in "/opt/OpenOffice 1.0.2". Evolution defaults to "/opt/gnome/share/evolution" (version 1.2.3 and below). Any beta software of evolution from Ximian defaults to "/opt/gnome2/share/evolution".
These are just a few examples and I'm sure there are many more. The reason I bring this up is because I have a difficult time upgrading various software programs (dependency issues and such) from the software maker and must wait for a SuSE RPM to come out before guaranteeing success. I've used other distros in the past (Red Hat, Mandrake, Lycoris, etc) and never seemed to have had near the problems I'm experiencing now when updating/upgrading. I prefer SuSE over all the others I've tried (been with it since 7.1) but this dependency thing is becoming a pain.
I guess to sum it all up: Does SuSE use its own "recipe" for installing software outside the realm (or conformity) of other distros and is there an installation "standard" (even a loose one)? Many thanks on opinions and observations.
Zach