/lib, /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib

[Dave Martindale]

I've always treated the root filesystem, including /bin and /lib,
as the places you store things that are absolutely necessary for
a bare system (with no other filesystems) to boot and run, and some
tools to let you fix things.  This keeps the root small, and you can
keep emergency copies of it on another disk or on tape easily.

/usr, on the other hand, gets the bulk of the system software.
System stuff mostly goes there - most binaries live in /usr/bin and
most libraries (and other "utility" things) live in /usr/lib.

/usr/local is a nice place to put stuff which belongs on "this" machine
only, or "this group of machines", when it is useful to distinguish it
from things which "everyone" has.

For example, at Waterloo /lib and /usr/lib are identical across all
of the VAXes running UNIX.  /usr/local/lib contains the graphics libraries
which exist only on watcgl.

Does this explanation make sense to you?

	Dave Martindale