I always thought that /usr/local in FreeBSD was meant only for ports, not for custom software, and that is supposed to go in /opt. In any case I agree with the

I always thought that /usr/local in FreeBSD was meant only for ports, not for custom software, and that is supposed to go in /opt. In any case I agree with the need of proper separation of app files. If we could adapt a bit the base tools of the OS, I think we could get there at least half-way there easily. For example if I could write something like PATH=$PATH:/opt/*/bin I wouldn't need to symlink every custom binary that I install (and similarly for man pages, service files etc.)