[wplug] Academic Linux Support Issues

[Matthew T. Engel]

Hello Everyone....

I work as a systems admin for a comp sci dept.  As of recently I have
been getting a lot of last minute requests for software library
installs.  Mainly for graphics and audio based programming
assignments.  

While, I try to keep up with installation requests as best as possible,
these things types of tasks have a way of building up.  As a means of
policy I usually only install software during semester breaks.
(However, I try to accommodate as many install requests as I can.)

The faculty that have been making the requests have also inquired about
obtaining root passwords (I politely said no).  But then also inquired
about some kind of NFS mountable resource, or comparable solution.
Where they could upload library like resources for student to link to
(via env var).

QUESTION:  Has anyone ever come across similar issues?  Does anyone know
I might accommodate this request without compromising the rest of the
systems.  Could this simply be solved by allowing the faculty write
access to a single /usr/local/ partition, and then sharing /usr/local,
read only to the rest of the lab machines?

Thank you in advance.

Matt Engel