files in /opt

[Mark Vollmers]

Hi, all. I've got a question about what files are in /opt. I am trying to clean up the system a bit, and I noticed that if I cd to /opt and ls, there are a bunch of programs that are installed elsewhere. For example, I have xfishtank on the server (neat little program, I might add) that I installed in /home/apps/xfishtank. I find what appears to be a full copy of the program in /opt/xfishtank. What's going on here? Can I delete the copy in /opt, since I run it from /home and I have a ton more space in /home? It appears that a number of programs are copied here in /opt, but not everything. What's the rational for this? I'd like to get rid of them if possible, since that will help free up space. Thanks, everyone.

Mark

[John Poff]

Mark,

The /opt filesystem is supposed to contain installed software. I lean towards having the software in /opt instead of in /home, unless it is a piece of software that nobody else will run. Having the software in /opt gives you a little more security and control over the installed software.

I have a development box here where one of the developers has installed a copy of xemacs in his home directory. At some point I'll probably install a real copy in /opt and have him get rid of his personal copy. That way, I can control it and other people can use it if they need to.

JP

[Curt Thompson]

Hello Mark,

Before you delete one of those 'copies', are you sure one of them is not a symbolic link of the other? Just checking...

Good Luck,
Curt

[Jim Turner]

Mark,

As the others have stated, /opt is for OPTional software products. If you install a product named "foo" for example, you would usually see the following:

/opt/foo # dir tree for exe's and lib's
/etc/opt/foo # dir tree for foo config files
/var/opt/foo # dir tree for foo log and spool files

You might wind up with /home/yourdir/foo, but you'll probably find it to be a sym link to the exe something like so:
foo -> /opt/foo/bin/foobinary

You can swremove products that are no longer needed to free up space in /opt. A handy little command I use to see who's soaking up filesystem space (/opt for example) is as follows:
du -kx /opt | sort -rn | more

This will give you a highest-to-lowest list of filesystem usage in KB (not blocks).

Cheers,
Jim

[Mark Vollmers]

Thanks for the replys so far. Looking at everyhting, it seems that the copies that I have are not links but actual files. Some of what is in /opt is in swlist, but some a few programs are not, and there is a bunch of stuff in there that is not in swlist. What I wonder is why, when I swinstall and set the target directory to, say, /home/apps, does it put a second copy in /opt? Is the one in /opt required for the one in /home/apps to run? If I run swremove for these, which copy will it take? I am not concerned with control of the these particular programs (as far as security is concerned).

[Ravi_8]

hi,
some of the softwares installed by default get installed under /opt(like IBM's MQseris)and some patches like trace when installed, will get installed in some other place but a piece of the software will be stored in /opt(like man,which is optional which if you don't want can be removed)