Re: [9fans] Man pages for add-ons

[Anthony Sorace <a@9srv.net>]

> I really don't understand why people don't line contrib and want to
> put stuff in /opt or $home/bin.

That's a false dichotiomy. I quite like replica/contrib, but I also
think there's some value to /opt packages. They answer two different
questions.

> Plan9 is susposed to be all about understanding the problems in
> traditional OSs and comming up with new and innovative solutions to
> them.

Agreed. That doesn't, of course, mean that all our answers will end up
being different.

I like the idea of having non-base stuff installed somewhere other
than / because it reduces the risk of getting exclusions wrong when
updating, allows easier comparisons between local and vendor packages,
reduces package interaction risks, allows easier interrogation of
which packages are locally installed, and allows (easier) finer-
grained control over which packages are "active" by default versus
simply provided locally as options.

This has all gotten a bit theoretical. Like I said, a few of us have
been playing with this in inferno, and I expect to try the same thing
in Plan 9 soon. I'll report any interesting findings.