Re: Binaries under "/usr/lib/"

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Tiago Ilieve <tiago.myhro@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Mattia,
>
> (Moving the discussion from BTS to "debian-mentors" mailing list.)
>
> On 15 May 2016 at 20:25, Mattia Rizzolo <mattia@debian.org> wrote:
> > Given that in your case you say the binary is not called by anything
> > else than the application itself, then why keep it in /usr/bin?
>
> As "/usr/lib/" is not part of $PATH, how should we deal with this?
> Patch every process call to the internal binaries in the upstream
> source? Or is there an easier way to work around this?

How many process calls are there? The ideal solution IMO is to:

* Make the location of application-private binaries configurable at
  build time, with a simple one-point-of-truth (e.g. a Makefile
  variable).

* Patch every call to those application-private binaries to use the
  configured location.

* Submit that patch upstream, explaining why it's superior behaviour.

* Maintain the patch in Debian for the (short?) time while upstream
  incorporates the patch.

-- 
 \     “Having sex with Rachel is like going to a concert. She yells a |
  `\      lot, and throws frisbees around the room; and when she wants |
_o__)                        more, she lights a match.” —Steven Wright |
Ben Finney