Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions and general comments.

This list provides comments and answers to common questions asked in the projects.

Can the projects be installed in /usr/local instead of /usr?

Yes, but several things should be considered.

Library lookup with LD_LIBRARY_PATH

All the build examples given for all the projects in this documentation use the --prefix=/usr switch given to the meson setup command (or to ./configure when using GNU autotools) when preparing the build. This prefix is the common one used by distributions when building packages, and so if the user uses the same one, it will end up overwriting the package manager installed files.

In order to avoid overwriting the package manager installed files, the user can avoid giving the explicit --prefix, and so the default /usr/local path will be used as prefix. If this approach is taken, the developer can keep the package manager installed libraries in /usr/lib and the package manager installed command line tools in /usr/bin, while keeping the custom installed libraries in /usr/local/lib and the custom installed command line tools in /usr/local/bin.

Under this scenario, the user can run e.g. the package manager installed mbimcli in the following way, which will use the package manager installed library from /usr/lib:

  $ /usr/bin/mbimcli

In the same scenario, the user can run the custom installed mbimcli in the following way, which will use the custom installed library from /usr/local/lib:

  $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib /usr/local/bin/mbimcli

But beware because there are distributions like Debian/Ubuntu which add the /usr/local/bin path to the PATH environment variable by default, so running the following command would attempt to run the custom installed mbimcli with the package manager installed library from /usr/lib (which is obviously a mess and won’t probably work):

  $ mbimcli

This complication with the need of the explicit LD_LIBRARY_PATH is the reason why this guide suggests to overwrite the package manager installed files when installing custom builds.

pkg-config lookup with PKG_CONFIG_PATH

Building a project using as build dependency another project which was installed in /usr/local will need an explicit PKG_CONFIG_PATH specifying where the .pc files are available, e.g.:

  $ PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig meson setup ...

Additional system files

If the project installs additional system files (e.g. systemd service setup, polkit settings, DBus service files) in /usr/local instead of /usr, they will be fully ignored. If the changes being installed require updates in these files, it is advised to avoid installing anywhere else than in /usr.

How long does it take for a merge request or issue review to happen?

New issues and merge requests are reviewed once the current maintainer finds free time. Please be patient.