Re: Installation layout is still hazardous for shared prefixes

Lamar Owen wrote: >Tom Lane wrote: >> To do that without creating problems, we'd have to go back to making >> sure that
allthe programs we install have 'pg'-prefixed names.  The >> scripts (createdb and so forth) don't at the moment, and
nameslike >> 'createuser' clearly have potential for confusion if they are in non- >> PG-specific directories. >
>RedHatincludes PostgreSQL, with executables in /usr/bin.  There have >been no namespace collisions as yet, with as
manypackages as RedHat >ships.
 
The same applies to Debian, with something like 4000 binary packages in
the current development tree.
 >> I think it would be a real bad idea to put the postmaster and postgres >> executables right in /usr/local/bin.
Perhapsit is time to think about >> a separate 'sbin' directory for programs that aren't supposed to be >> invoked by
normalusers.  Those two, initdb, initlocation, and ipcclean > >This is doable, but not really necessary.  However, if
thisis the >direction things are going..... I can certainly work with it.  In fact, >I may go ahead with 7.1's RPMset
anddo that, popping those executables >in /usr/sbin -- not a big change, by any means, except to the scripts >that are
bundledwith the RPM. 
 
In the Debian package, I have put the administrator programs in
/usr/lib/postgresql/bin.  The postgres user has that directory in its path
so that all works properly.  Since root cannot run these, I don't think it
appropriate to put them in /usr/sbin.
 >A good, usable, shared prefix would make my job much easier.  Great gobs >of code in the spec file would go away as
PostgreSQLloses the >'/usr/local/pgsql'-centric thinking and gets more in the step of what is >standard for packaging.
Andthis would help even on system other than >Linux FHS-compliant distributions.  And it would not cause any problems
>forthose who still want to use a prefix of /usr/local/pgsql.
 

Agreed.

-- 
Oliver Elphick                                Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk
Isle of Wight                              http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver
PGP: 1024R/32B8FAA1: 97 EA 1D 47 72 3F 28 47  6B 7E 39 CC 56 E4 C1 47
GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839  932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C
========================================   "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God,      believe also in
me."         John 14:1