Re: flexfax: Announcement: RPMs for hylafax and libgr

[Leslie Mikesell <les@Mcs.Net>]

> 
> > The name 'xferstat' is sufficiently vague that it can -- and has --
> > been duplicated by other software. This issue didn't even arise until
> > someone ran into problems because of the redundant filenames.
> 
> Can someone explain why a conflict arises.  In the beta of Hylafax 4
> that I have, all the logs are written into the /usr/spool/fax tree, so
> cannot conflict with /var/adm etc.

It has to do with the Linux Filesystem Standard which, in an attempt
to normalize the location of files across different distributions,
insists that anything included in a complete system distribution
*not* live in /usr/local but have its executables in the standard
places, config files in /etc, logs in /var/log, and so on.  It's
one of those basically good ideas that that doesn't quite match
reality...  Aside from the problem of duplicate filenames there
is also the problem that if you need an update ahead of the distributor
and compile your own you end up having to find all the changed
locations and modify your crontabs, PATH, and assorted other things
to match.

But, it's only an issue if RedHat, Debian, etc. include the progam
as part of their stock system.  Third party add-ons are expected
to live in /usr/local as they would if you compiled your own.
   
 Les Mikesell
     les@mcs.com