On 06/06/2018 07:09 AM, Mariano, Adrian V. wrote:
It has been brought to my attention that in my package (GNU units) I have a file that gets changed every day located in datarootdir---but this location is for read only files. The correct place for my architecture independent dynamic file would appear to be sharedstatedir. However, this resolves to the rather bizarre path /usr/local/com. I can't find any reference to anybody actually using this path. Do all the distributions over-ride this into something "normal"?
Distros are not allowed to install into /usr/local. So a default of /usr/local/com is irrelevant to them - but still relevant to a non-distro build.
The fedora units guy tells me it will be /var/lib, for example---and I think with redhat the whole /usr directory is supposed to be read only.
Top-level /usr might be read-only, but distros don't control /usr/local.
So what's the correct practice for my package? Should I use sharedstatedir and not worry about it resolving to a strange default path because mostly it will get changed by site defaults?
Correct. Under the /usr/local hierarchy (when you install the software yourself as an add-on to the distro packaging), /usr/local/com is better than any other alternative, for still being located within a single hierarchy under your control. But under the /usr hierarchy (when the software is installed on your behalf by the distro), /var/lib is correct - but that's WHY './configure --sharedstatedir=/var/lib' exists, and distros are responsible for setting it.
Or is there some other way to handle this?
No, as long as you use sharedstatedir correctly, then you don't have to take care of anything further.
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