User:Toshio/Untouchable directories

This page is a draft only
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on the information on this page. This is an update to the existing guidelines on /srv, /opt, and /usr/local

Changes:

• Clarify that we mean modifications of any type (adding files, modifying files, removing files, etc)
• Add /home directories
• Add a different section for /opt that explains its use in Fedora.

No Files or Directories under /srv, /opt, or /usr/local

The FHS says :

"...no program should rely on a specific subdirectory structure of /srv existing
or data necessarily being stored in /srv. However /srv should always exist on FHS
compliant systems and should be used as the default location for such data.

Distributions must take care not to remove locally placed files in these
directories without administrator permission."

The FHS is explicitly handing control of the directory structure under /srv to the system administrator rather than the distribution. Therefore, no Fedora packages can have any files or directories under /srv, come preconfigured to use specific files or directories under /srv, to remove files there, or to modify the files there in any way.

In addition, no Fedora package can have any files or directories under /opt or /usr/local, as these directories are not permitted to be used by Distributions in the FHS.

It is important to note that a Fedora package, once installed and configured by a user, can use /srv as a location for data. The package simply must not do this out of the box