I recently put SuSE Linux on a PC and I'm confused about how applications are "supposed" to be installed.

The SuSE manual talks about using YAST to install .rpm packages, but I downloaded Mozilla Firefox, which gave me a ...installer.tar.gz file, and YAST seemed to have no idea what to do with it. So I gunzipped it where Konquror had downloaded it to (/home/<username>/Documents) and ran the Installer that came with it and it installed it to /home/<username>/bin.

I expected it to install it to /usr/bin. I can run it from /home/<username>/bin but parts of it misbehave. For example it keeps asking me if I want it to be my default browser and I say yes, but Konqueror remains the default.

What is the canonically correct way this was "supposed" to be installed, and where in the SuSE documentation should it be described?

Thanks in advance!

You seem to be new to linux? am i right. Well, So i give you a warm WELCOME i the linux world.
So, there are a lot of diferent types of programs you can install. The 4 magior ones are:
-pakages, their type change from distro to distro and in suse the pakages are the *.rpm. They will be installed thougth the package tool, in your case YAST. They will be quiqly instaled and
will be integrated in your shell and in your menu.
-sources, probably the most tryky kind of programs, they normaly come under the form *.tar.bz2. To install them you will have to unpack it and then recompile them. To do this you will have to open a konsole inside the directory to whitch it has been unpaked and give the folowing commands. "./configure" then "make" and to finish "make install". To go faster you may just give this:"./configure && make && make install". The program wil be instaled into your konsole and you will be able to run it with a command or thought the menu.( recompilation takes a lot of time).
-already build, these are normaly *.tar.gz they are already build. You will only have to extract it and run the program that will be inside the folder.
-self extracting Theese are programs that you will have to execute the installer and then they will install, normaly though an install interface. (this is the case with mozilla). Theese mignt come packed and therefore you will have to extract it, or as *.bin. In this case just open a terminal and give execute it. And then to run it execute the executable file in the directory in whitch you have installed the program.

IN you case with mozilla, you will have to execute the installer and choose to instal it in your home directory( the only directory in whitch you can write). So install it there!!! Good luck.

As I said, the installer put it in /home/<username>/bin. Shouldn't it go in /usr/bin? I can always switch users to root if that's necessary. Do Linux users usually become root for installing applications? What determines where it 'should' go?

And also, as I said, it keeps asking me if I want Firefox to be the default browser but then it ignores my answer and continues to use Konqueror, the browser that comes with KDE.

In Linux what is responsible for setting such defaults - the OS or the Desktop? Windows has a data structure called the Registry that stores such things - how are the equivalent defaults managed in Linux?

What I'm trying to find out as a newbie, is, in Linux, what is the canonically correct way to install a given application and how do I tell before I download an app likie this to install?

it is never good to be loged as root for a long time and it sould be avoided as much as possible. Instaling firefox in /home/username/bin is fine. Even better than /usr/bin. About the default browser, try going to the firefox preference and setting him there as default. I do not know about windows( it is more than one year since i have disinstaled it and use it only rarely and avoid it as much as posible; it drives me crazy). For that kind of settings the responsible is a file in your home directory, beacuse it is a setting that changes from user to user( i don't know if you knew it but if a file or directory name beggins with a dot(.) it wil be a hiden file and you won't see it. So to acces ti you will have to enter her name in the browser. I don't understand well, you want to look in your hd with firefox?? or soar the web. To look in your hd konqueror is exelent. Wereas it is much slowe than firefox to soar the web.
To know what kind of file it will be, it is normaly said in the dowload site, and you will soon be able to recognise them just by looking.

At the begining using linux might seem a lot of trouble, but you will see that it is verry fun, and your linux will become much more efficient. And soon you will do more with linux than you did with windows. You will have to get some experience. Infor yourself of when there will be the linuxday in your country. There is this celebration once a year and in most citties. Go there and meet someone that can help you. It is quite hard to explain everithing to you thougth this forum. The linuxday is realy a cool place to go. It helped me a lot when 1 year before, i had just managed to install my first linux, it was slackware 9.1. And i had passed one week before it was working and started the X. There they explained to me that i were begining with something to hard for me and what i sould do. It helped me indeed a lot. However, i never used suse, but some people told me it is quite good for newbies. The libnux day should be soon, in Italy(where i live) it will be the 27th november. And it will hapen even in my town(a town of 50 000 peoples) so you won't have much dificulties going to one. Good luck. Let me know how you are doing. If you wish you can add me to your buddies in this forum. Even if i am not such an expert

hi pinelson,
You should re-read what pauloref wrote, he was talking about different kind of packages, and how you install them.
Now, about Firefox, what is your concern? i mean why do you care so much if it should have been installed in /usr/bin, it doesn´t matter. If you want you can move all the firefox files there, but it is ok in your ~/bin , so leave it there.
About firefox constantly asking if you want it to become the default browser, if you click yes and it doesn´t work, then try to fix it in a different way. What window manager are you using? Kde? Gnome? other?
If Kde, check your "Kde Control Center" and edit the file extensions, also you can access it by right clicking in a specific file that you want to change programs priority and then press the wrench pic, i think you will manage yourself from there.
By desktop you mean your windows manager, right? In Linux there are files every where that contains configuration information, But you have to differentiate the windows manager and Linux(the kernel)
I mean every user has their own ~/.kde directory that contains all his specific configuration options, and his cache file. As you may notice ~ = /home/<username> and the dot before the name means that it is hidden, you can see them with "ls -a".
Linux users become root only when they need to, i mean linux users never login into X as root(kde or gnome), because it is not security wise. Instead we open up a terminal and work as root from there, also you will be using a terminal most of the time, i always keep a terminal open
About installing software, rpms is the easiest way to install something, when you download an rpm package check that is was built for your distro(suse) and that it has preferably the same version, also choose the one that is precompiled best for you processor, like i686.
Hope this clears some of your doubts.
If you have time }, try to read this: http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz it is an excellent guide.
Regards,

I thought I should put it under the /usr tree in because
1. I see lots of other applications in there
2. I thought maybe that's why KDE wasn't seeing it appropriately as the default browser.
3. The only Konqueror files I see under /home/<username> are session files. All the other Konqueror files seem to be under /opt, /etc, or /usr. So that's why I thought the Firefox files should also go there.

So, then I'm confused about what the appropriate use of /usr/bin -vs- /home/<username>/bin. When should a file go in one -versus- the other?

Exactly. So when Firefox offers to be the default browser WHAT has the responsibility of remembering the answer - the kernel or the windows manager?

Also, how DO I tell KDE about Firefox, so it appears on the list of programs KDE offers to run, and so it appears on my desktop?
The control center has something called "File Associations" but I don't see how that helps for this. The file extensions of the Firefox filesl are all ones it already knows about, e.g., ".bin"., etc.