packages go into /opt/packagename-packageversion/ then /opt/packagename symlinks to /opt/packagename-packageversion/ then /usr/local/bin/blah symlinks to /opt/packagename/bin/blah ? could make normal packages, that are like xxx-xxx-i386-01opt_soc.tgz they install to /opt/packagename-packageversion/ admin updates symlinks? or a program does? goes through all /opt/*-version/ and makes /opt/*/ and then goes through /opt/*/bin/* and makes /usr/local/bin* symlinks, etc. research how /opt was actually origionally used in unix distro: you run a wizard, and it gives you a command prompt in which you should install the program however you want, be it rpm, or compiled from source, and the changes are tracked and are saved and the program is put into an /opt directory. Then the wizard asks some questions about which executables should be commands, and creates symlinks "system" packages would be the only ones to install into / or this could just be a program that runs on top of antoher distro, and the distro's packages are "system" packages and the /opt thing is for stuff that doesn't come with the distro