/etc and /usr/local/etc directories

[Danny Pansters]

Chipping in here, because although the answers are (of course!) correct  it 
may clarify a bit...

On Friday 13 August 2004 02:40, Bill Moran wrote:
> "Joshua Lewis" <jmlewis at dslextreme.com> wrote:
> > I have decided to take the plunge and try out 5.2.1. I figure it will be
> > 5.3 soon and I like the idea of upgrading at that time. So I am going to
> > start fiddling with it.
> >
> > The first thing I am noticing is when installing apps from the ports
> > directory my config files are getting put into /usr/local/etc instead of
> > where I am used to /etc.
>
> Huh?  What version of FreeBSD were you using that put them in /etc?
> They've always gone in /usr/local/etc ... since 2.2 at least.
>
> > I am guessing this by design and wanted to confirm this.
>
> Yes, it's by design.

For system (OS, that's kernel and userland) settings you have /etc
For local (packages/ports) settings you have /usr/local/etc or /usr/X11R6/etc

Of course these two local bases should have been merely hard linked long ago 
but that's not my decision :)

> > Is this a config setting somewhere? It is fine in the /usr/local/etc
> > directory but if it is a config setting then perhaps there are other
> > settings that have changed that I have not encountered yet. I would like
> > to read up on the changes.
> >
> > While I am on the subject. Are there any other differences between 4.10
> > and 5.X that will take me by surprise?

Perhaps the way you load modules and the way you pass module parameters to the 
kernel in the loader. Also, 5.X needs /usr to be mounted because of "dynamic 
root" and if building a kernel, LINT has moved to be NOTES and its meaning 
has changed slightly as well as their locations inside /usr/src/sys.

> > I read through the Release notes on FreeBSD.org and it never mentioned
> > the /etc directory thing. So perhaps there are some other items I should
> > keep my eye out for.

This generally isn't anything new compared to 4.X or even before that.

> The FreeBSD handbook is being updated all the time.  You'll probably want
> to re-read a lot of it to see what kind of changes are occurring.  There
> are also a lot of new man pages in existance.  If you have specific
> questions, you can always ask on this list.

I'm sure the $LOCALBASE and $X11BASE thing is discussed in the Handbook or at 
least the Porters Handbook, yes.


Regards, HTH,

Dan