8.9 The Application Directory (opt)

   

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8.9 The Application Directory (/opt)

The /opt directory is used for installing applications on an HP-UX system. Each application has a subdirectory in this directory. Starting from that subdirectory, each application may have its own directory tree containing binary files, manual pages, libraries, and so forth.

Putting applications in one directory solves many problems related to system administration. Not all vendors that supply software for HP-UX specify a particular directory for their application. This makes it easy to keep multiple versions of the same application on the system, as each version has its own directory structure, which is independent from the rest of the system or any other application. Also, it makes it easy to keep track of these applications when they are installed under one top directory, exactly like it is easy to maintain home directories of users when all of these exist under one main directory /home . You should keep in mind, however, that although application files are kept under this directory, some application files maintain configuration files in /etc/opt and log files in /var/opt directories. This scheme provides another advantage when application directories are shared among many systems on a network, since each sharing system can have its own separate configuration and log files depending on local system configuration.

A sample application directory tree is shown in Figure 8-5 showing the HP Ignite -UX application used for system recovery.

Figure 8-5. A sample application directory tree for ignite .

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