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?

Answer 1

It is an abbreviation for "optional." Historically, /opt has been used to install non-traditional or non-standard software that isn't considered part of the main underlying system. In the GNU/Linux of today, I find a lot of software that aren't installed using the distribution's package manager will install themselves into /opt in order to avoid conflicting with the package manager which typically installs files under /usr. That being said, it doesn't really matter that much as long as you're careful. In today's landscape, /opt is just another directory that you'll sometimes put things, but those things can also be put elsewhere.

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