Does it matter where you extract a tarball?
 

I have read on the net that a tarball should always be extracted from /usr/src Is this correct?
I thought it doesn't matter as long as you are in the "tarball directory when you run configure make etc? READMEs don't seem to specify locations so does it make a difference?

it doesn't really matter for purposes of compilation. But you might want to maintain some organization on your system and have all your sources under /usr/src. Makes it easier to find later.

Actually, I prefer to extract them into a user directory (/home/myself/downloads). This way, I don't have to be root to extract them to where they're going. Then, I can read the README files that come with the tarball, and decide if/how I really want to install it, all while keeping some security with my system. Also, once a file's been compiled and installed and works well, it's often pointless to keep the tarball. (There's likely a newer version by the time you decide to reinstall it.) So, making a "permanent" entry into /usr/src seems pointless to me, in most cases.

When I want to compile/install them, I just 'su' to root and do so.

/usr/src was a great idea before faster connections (56k was fast, no, FAST, way back when). Now, with cvs and rsync, having a permanent copy in a root-owned directory seems like a bad thing, especially when makefiles and the like allow you to adjust every property available to a program.

yea I keep all mine in a file under user called RPMS