--prefix and --sysconfdir (Re: Simplifying package installation.)

[Karl Eichwalder <ke gnu franken de>]

Miguel de Icaza <miguel@gnu.org> writes:

|   This is very strange.  besides the topic we have been discussing today
|   in g-h, all applications use the prefix.

Yes, I know, they do.

|   Ie, I run GNOME myself in /gnome on my laptop and in /opt/gnome at
|   work.

Yes, again, I remember me, you wrote it long time ago.

And you're right, most programs are running pretty good and often it's
only a minor patch to fix something.  Please note, that I'm using

    --prefix=/opt/gnome
    --sysconfdir=/etc/opt/gnome

Trouble will arise (not always, but...), if you'll install other
components with --prefix=/usr (e.g., ORBit, libxml, enlightment, etc.);
I guess, this should work, too, since these applications do not
necessarily depend on GNOME.  E.g., it happens that the control center
refuses to work; if back from vacation, I'll have a closer look at this
issue.

And than, there is this strange animal (g)mc ;-)  I wondering how
difficult it would be to implement:

    --prefix         (for the standalone "mc", value /usr)
    --sysconfdir     (ditto, value /etc)
    --gmc-prefix     (for gmc, value /opt/gnome)
    --gmc-sysconfdir (ditto, value /etc/opt/gnome)

Do people think, such a configuration flexibility could be useful?

-- 
                                             work   :        ke@suse.de
Karl Eichwalder                              private: ke@gnu.franken.de