name conflicts in /opt

[Jeff Johnson]

The main problem, I think, is conflicts between distribution files in /opt, and
ISV files in /opt. Here's an example (hypothetical - as of this writing the
provider name in question isn't registered). If a distribution places a package
in /opt/apache, for example, and "apache" is a provider name registered to
apache.org who is providing packages which install there, then there is no way
to install the distribution's package and the apache.org package at the same time.

The issue is related to package naming because /opt/<package> is one of the ways
that the /opt namespace is carved up, but it isn't quite the same as package
naming. For example, if no-hyphen package names are for the distribution (e.g.
"bglibc"), that doesn't necessarily imply that /opt/<package> is for the
distribution (as there could be a provider with the same name).

Here are some excerpts from the FHS:

A package to be installed in /opt must locate its static files in a separate
/opt/<package> or /opt/<provider> directory tree, where <package> is a name that
describes the software package and <provider> is the provider's LANANA
registered name.

Distributions may install software in /opt, but must not modify or delete
software installed by the local system administrator without the assent of the
local system administrator.

The minor restrictions on distributions using /opt are necessary because
conflicts are possible between distribution-installed and locally-installed
software, especially in the case of fixed pathnames found in some binary software.

(end FHS excerpts).
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