[arch-general] Custom libexecdir not recommended for gnome

[Clemens Buchacher]

Hi,

I'd like to bring to your attention the discussion surrounding
gnome-shell/networkmanager bug #679212 (NetworkManager VPN secrets:
NetworkAgent internal error):

    https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=679212

A fix for this particular bug is under way. The cause for the bug was
Arch Linux's use of different libexecdirs for gnome-shell and
networkmanager plugins (/usr/lib/gnome-shell and
/usr/lib/networkmanager, respectively), instead of the default
/usr/libexec. This is in accordance with Arch Packaging Standards:

    "Avoid using /usr/libexec/ for anything. Use /usr/lib/${pkgname}/
    instead." [1]

What is the motivation for this rule? In response to the above bug
report, a gnome-shell dev says that he "could consider this weird
libexecdir setting a distribution problem." Since this seems to be an
unusual setting, I suspect that there might still be many more bugs
lurking around for which Arch Linux plays beta tester. Indeed, this is
not the first time that I am having trouble with Arch Linux packages
using custom installation directories [2].

Maybe it's not such a big deal and it's just me having some tough luck
(2 events do not make a good statistic). But expectations upstream seem
to contradict the Arch Linux rule, so I wanted to bring it up for
discussion.

Clemens

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Packaging_Standards#Package_etiquette
[2] http://gnu-octave-repository.2306053.n4.nabble.com/geometry-1-4-0-cannot-handle-installation-prefixes-td4463998.html