if someone yells across a room "where do i install open office" and the
(verbal) response is "opt, off the root directory" or "root - opt" then
it could be seen as ambiguous.

Trouble is, root has no one meaning. Why didn't Kernighan & Richie (or
whoever invented unix) make the superuser  "admin"???

I suggest Peter deletes the stuff in /root/opt (backing up any files he
has made) and reinstalls openoffice into /opt. No doubt someone can lend
him a cd of openoffice on Thursday?

Nick
> 
> I've just had an email exchange with  Peter Cornelius and we have
> established that StarOffice really does seem to be installed in
> '/root/opt/Office52' . This was installed for him at the
> installfest. 
> 
> Please tell me it's not the case that Mandrake or any other
> distribution has a habit of storing applications in /root. Otherwise,
> I'm going to have to resign my post as, um, 'person who's vaugely
> knowledgeable about Linux when compared to someone who's not', and
> possibly commit sepuku or maybe drink a lot of alcohol to wipe out my
> shame. 
> 
> If that's not the case, then the only other option is that whoever
> installed it made a mistake. I say we beat the perpetrator soundly,
> not only because they got it wrong, but because it lead to a confusing
> and frustrating conversation about what the words 'root' and
> 'directory' together mean! :]
> 
> (Not to mention it probably didn't do anything for Peter's morale. and
> here I was thinking that Peter was being either quite stupid or
> deliberately contrary, but no, he really did have things installed in
> /root . )
> 
> It's entirely possible that the perpetrator misread or misunderstood
> the instruction to install it under the root directory themselves. 
> 
> 
> Andrew. 
> 

-- 
Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

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