On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 11:58:14AM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: > > That's why I always thoroughly log all stuff installed by hand, along with > > extra configuration steps taken with RPM-installed items, and make sure the > > log's someplace where the next person can find it. In our case we maintain > > wikis for this sort of thing. It would be nice if there were a standard for > > where such notes should be left on the systems themselves. Not aware that > > there is one, though. > > The standard place is for the rpm database to hold the list of files in > each package and to the extent possible values for local config options > to be split out as a file under /etc/sysconfig and somehow merged at > runtime. And the standard for documentation would be matching man pages > included in the package. Les, that's not my question. My question is about there being a standard place to record what's installed _outside_ of the distro's package management scheme. IMHO telling people it's not proper to do that is an attempt to impose a local custom in a world where many people are more sophisticated, and blend customs from various communities. > The piece you might be missing is avoiding replacing any rpm-managed > file with your own. Or putting your own files in places that might > conflict with subsequently installed rpms. Ah, but you see I'm resulutely not "proper" and will always install some things directly from tar where the distro (whichever distro) isn't current enough for our needs, or has compiled a daemon with options inappropriate to our uses. I do, though, install these in locations like /usr/local/ outside of the areas the distro is maintaining. There is of course a standard about distros not touching /usr/local/. Some prefer /opt, but some distros find their own conflicting uses for that directory, unfortunately. I also keep a log when I do these installs, so the next sysadmin will know. The question is if there's a standard place to keep that. I'm certainly not coming to this list and complaining when anything I've built by hand on top of CentOS doesn't do what I want. I get it that the regulars here don't want to support that. Trying to convince everyone not to build and install anything from tar, ever, may be overkill. Wearing my sysadmin hat I appreciate the conservative approach; but I also wear a developer hat, from which POV sticking with obsolete programs just to make the sysadmin half of me maximally comfortable is too serious a compromise. Best, Whit