What does opt mean as in the opt directory Is it an abbreviation

Question

What does  opt  mean  as in the  opt  directory   I commonly see this directory in Unix systems with development tools inside   Is it an abbreviation

User · Answer

It is an abbreviation for  optional    used for optional software in some distros

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OPTional  It holds optional software and packages that you install that are not required for the system to run

User · Answer

In the old days   quot  opt quot  was used by UNIX vendors like AT amp T  Sun  DEC and 3rd-party vendors to hold  quot Option quot  packages  i e  packages that you might have paid extra money for   I don t recall seeing  quot  opt quot  on Berkeley BSD UNIX   They used  quot  usr local quot  for stuff that you installed yourself  But of course  the true  quot meaning quot  of the different directories has always been somewhat vague   That is arguably a good thing  because if these directories had precise  and rigidly enforced  meanings you d end up with a proliferation of different directory names  According to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard   opt is for  quot the installation of add-on application software packages quot    usr local is  quot for use by the system administrator when installing software locally quot

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It s usually describes as for optional add-on software packagessource  or anything that isn t part of the base system  Only some distributions use it  others simply use  usr local

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Add-on software packages   See http   www pathname com fhs 2 2 fhs-3 12 html for details   Also described at Wikipedia   Its use dates back at least to the late 1980s  when it was a standard part of System V UNIX   These days  it s also seen in Linux  Solaris  which is SysV   OSX Cygwin  etc   Other BSD unixes  FreeBSD  NetBSD  etc  tend to follow other rules  so you don t usually see BSD systems with an  opt unless they re administered by someone who is more comfortable in other environments

[linux] What does "opt" mean (as in the "opt" directory)? Is it an abbreviation?

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