/etc and /usr/local/etc

[Pete French]

> As a relative FreeBSD newbie, I get confused between these two 
> directories.  As I understand it, anything I install after the initial 
> installation will user /usr/local/.  For example, I'm used to seeing 

Kind of - anything which istalled that isnt part fo the operating
system should out it's stuff in /usr/local/whatever. Nothing should
ever be installing into / - if it does then it's broken.

> How do other people deal with this?  Do you live with it because that's 
> the way it is.  Do you change any parameters which make installed stuff 

Heh, not sure about 'live with' - I think we actually like it that
way. I certainly do - I want all my installed software in one place,
not all mixed up with bits of the operating system. It means there
should be only one place to look for config files, data files, and
executables. /etc can pretty much gather cobwebs - I never go in
there unless I am fiddling with the OS itself.

As for changing parameter - I actually do the opposite... if something
I install tries to fill my /etc directory with stuff I make very sure it
gets reconfigured to put stuff where it belongs under /usr/local. It
still annoys me that xorg wwants to put it's config file into /etc - I
don't know if theres some reason why that hasn't been fixed... maybe it's
hard coded into xorg ?

-bat.