[petsc-dev] Sean is going to love this

[Sean Farley]

Jed Brown writes:

> Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> writes:
>>> $libdir/petsc/ if we want to be like libtool and pkgconfig.
>>
>>   lib - Currently we put Matlab compiled stuff here (Matlab uses arch
>>   specific suffixes so versions for any architecture can be dumped in
>>   this same place, of course the PETSc library in the upper directory
>>   is specific :-).
>
> $libdir is for arch-specific stuff like object files and shared
> libraries.
>
>>> $datadir/petsc/ if we think of them as host-independent (similar to man
>>> pages).
>>
>>   share -   Some of our external packages put stuff here.
>>
>>   I think of share as something that kind of works for any
>>   architecture (like manual pages) and not things that a specific to a
>>   particular architecture. Since conf stuff is particular to an
>>   architecture does this mean we should put conf there? And for
>>   backwards compatibility have a link from $prefix/conf for a while?
>
> I think this is the argument for using libdir (like libtool and
> pkgconfig do) instead of datadir.  I have mixed feelings about a
> $prefix/conf/ link -- it's unconventional and bad and people should
> update their makefiles to use (a forthcoming) petsc-config.  But people
> don't like having stuff break inexplicably so we should probably install
> it for a while and have it print a warning telling people how to upgrade
> their makefiles.

Yes, libdir would be fine (e.g. /opt/local/lib/petsc). Some packages put
their cmake files and whatnot there.