Understanding non-packaged

If you come from other systems than Haiku, the folders named "non-packaged" could be a curiosity for you.

Let's review what's the usage of the "/boot/home/config/non-packaged" and the "/boot/system/non-packaged" folders.

If you install standard Haiku packages (hpkg), they will be mounted on the "/boot/system" folder which is using the "packagefs" filesystem.

Now suppose you don't have a hpkg package available to install your favorite software, what can you do?

The alternative is to install manually the files of your program in the below folders:

• "/boot/home/config/non-packaged" : for programs which are used only by the current user
• "/boot/system/non-packaged" : for programs which are shared by all users

Note : today Haiku isn't multi-user, so the distinction will make sense only when there will be support for it.

If we look at the /boot/home/config/non-packaged folder's structure, we can see the below :

You can notice the "bin" and "lib" folders inside.

This "non-packaged" folder can be considered the same way as the "/usr/local" folder on Linux, where you can install programs.

The /boot/system/non-packaged folder has also a similar structure :

Now let's have a look at the order of priority in the $PATH variable :

The first folder to use when searching for programs will be the current folder (".")

Then the below folders will follow by order of priority :

• "/boot/home/config/non-packaged/bin"
• "/boot/home/config/bin"
• "/boot/system/non-packaged/bin"
• "/bin"
• "/boot/system/apps"
• "/boot/system/preferences"

It means that if you install a program in "/boot/home/config/non-packaged/bin", it will be used in priority compared to the same program name located in the "/boot/system/apps" folder.

So keep in mind to use this "non-packaged" folder only for specific usage, for instance when no "hpkg" package is available.

If you would like more details on the various folders on Haiku, you can check the page "Filesystem layout" available on the official website.

And if you want to know more about the package management, you can check the great article "Haiku package management" available on markround.com.