mono is in /opt and every package I ever tried was capable to build. So I tried gfax myself. And see, the autogen.sh script doesn't work cuz the configure.in isn't shipping with the tar-ball. Why does it not compile? Cuz there is no ability to configure and all the pathes are hardcoded in the Makefile there is no way to redirect things to /opt/mono.
Have a look at the Makefile everything is hardcoded to /usr, MONO_PATH is overridden not even extended, install is requested in /usr/bin (Arch has it in /bin)
Also the wrapper script to call mono-gfax.exe is hardcoded and checks pathes in /home/george!
It is possible to build it, even possible to install it if you basically rewrite the complete Makefile and the printer-install(which requires gnome in /usr, hardcoded again btw.) and the wrapperscript etc. Not talking about the files copied to shared in 755 mode...
I'd wonder if it finally will run at all. You can get my PKGBUILD which uses many sed lines and the install scriptlet if you want. But here is the not the place of mono in /opt the problem itself.

Can I close it then?

Yes, I know of all these problems. Thing is, there are quite a few mono apps out there that are hardcoded that way. SkyNET is another one. Blam! doesn't work because it can't find Mozilla on /opt etc etc.

This bug report was to question if it is a good policy to put Mono on /opt.

As for closing this bug or not, the right thing to do is to email the developer with a patch that uses configure and make-install the "right" way instead of creating a special pkgbuild for it, that it might break in the future anyway.

Gotcha. The question is good especially since mono used to be in /usr. It has been moved like all the "bigger" packages, like KDE, Gnome etc. Also Java is located in /opt. I'm quite happy with that solution because it keeps /usr clean. On the downside of this, more Env-vars needs to be exported, but personally I think there is good progress on making this properly. The only issue I'm aware of currently is the MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME thing and help is underway.

About reporting this to the upstream author, yes , but I just didn't want to write him that quick'n dirty hacked Makefile, especially since way more things needs to be done to have a universal solution working for more distributions. Also the sheer existence of autogen.sh tells me that the package seems to be prepared for auto-tools. I absolutely agree on they way I did is not nice and would make maintainig it a pain.

As a question, since i don't use fax at all, does the package worked the way that PKGBUILD creates it. Answering that would help me on a more detailed reply to the author.
Thanks!

Please send me a binary pacman package so I can test it. I don't want to get all dirty with pkgbuilds.. ;-)

The mentioned application would also not work if mono was installed in /usr/local as it is suggested with many other distros when you install from source. For now, our mono-dependend applications sitting in /opt/working fine. Unless some major problem occurs, mono will stay in /opt/mono so far like the java packages. I keep the issue in mind.