How do you use /opt

[meatpan]

Well, the title says it all. What do you put in /opt? If you know something about the true purpose or history behind this folder, let us know!

[mech7]

only have xampp in there have no clue what all these dirs are for though to me itls only confusing

[FuturePilot]

I use it to install programs that either aren't in the repos or to install a newer version of a program that is in the repos.
Currently on my Dapper box I have the latest Mozilla build of Firefox and Songbird installed in /opt

I believe the purpose of this directory is to do just that. Install other programs that don't have a place. Most likely ones you installed yourself.

/opt
Used for storing random data that has no other logical destination.
http://doc.vic.computerbank.org.au/tutorials/linuxdirectorystructure/

[siimo]

I use it to hide my porn ;)

[reacocard]

I don't use it, in fact, /opt doesn't even exist on my system!

However, according to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FHS):

/opt/ Optional application software packages.

[FuturePilot]

I don't use it, in fact, /opt doesn't even exist on my system!
I think that was a bug if you upgraded from the Feisty RC to the Final version as the RC didn't have /opt

[reacocard]

I think that was a bug if you upgraded from the Feisty RC to the Final version as the RC didn't have /opt

Nope, clean install of feisty stable. I don't really care, /opt is useless for me and having it missing doesn't seem to affect anything.

[juxtaposed]

Nothing; I didn't even know it existed.

I don't put files in odd folders like that. Just anywhere in my home folder (including desktop) and wherever apt puts them.

[zenwhen]

I have Azureus installed in /opt

[Nikron]

Archlinux puts a bunch of things in /opt/, while for some programs like Eclipse and Acroread, this makes sense, but recently Gnome got moved out of opt. It doesn't really effect the user though, because everything is automatically added to their path anyway.

[kevinlyfellow]

In /opt I have mathematica and system76 drivers. The drivers are there by default (the deb drops them there). I don't know why I put mathematica in there, probably because I didn't have a deb for it.

[meatpan]

A couple uses for /opt that I have seen:

At work, the /opt directory is a collection of 'non-free' programs that require special licenses. I think this decision was made to keep all of these programs in a common location, as opposed to mixing them with the baziliion packages in /usr/local.

In school, the IT staff placed all manually (ie, non-aptitude) built programs in /opt. A clever way to isolate all programs that might have special dependency problems, since they required a custom build.

[_simon_]

I use it for applications I have manually installed i.e.not with Synaptic.

Currently it has azureus, google-earth, nvu, ies4linux and thunderbird in there.

[DoktorSeven]

Self-contained, Windows-like program installs that I manually install that use their own directory unlike most programs that use the bin/share/lib method.

Examples: Unreal Tournament, Firefox (I compile my own), etc.