installing apps for all users
 

greetings,

how do i install applications that all users can use?
e.g. openoffice or firefox?

i tried installing once, but it seems that only the user that installs the application can use it.

please advice.
thanks

Try installing as root; it should install system-wide

i am using mandrake 10.1 now and i dont see the root option at the login page.. only my username..
how do i enable the root login? is it a bad practice that they disable the root login via the xwindow?
or should i just use su - at the command terminal?

It's advised that you should just use su -. Logging into a GUI as root is dangerous as it is easy to make mistakes, so it is often disabled at the Xwindow login.

RPMs can only be installed as root, and it'd be a pain having to log in and out just to install packages. Use su to gain root access inside the terminal; all subsequent commands in the terminal are considered as if you are root until you type exit.

affirmative.. will try that.
thanks.. ^_^

umm.. when i want to install OpenOffice.org, the path for the installation is /root/OpenOffice.org1.1.4
can other users use the apps?

No, that can't be right -- how are you trying to install it? RPM? Compiling from source?

RPM.. I´m just a newbie.. please guide.. :D

If the package is an RPM, simply open a terminal window:

$ su -
Password: Enter ROOT password
# rpm -ivh <package> where package is the package that you want to install.

This should install the package, for general use.

In Mandrake, you might want to try "rpmdrake" (as root, type in rpmdrake in a terminal and press enter). This is an easy to use software manager that does the hard work for you.

Another noob here :)

When you do:
# rpm -ivh <package>

how do you specify where the package gets installed? Like, if I wanted to make a new directory or something? Moving away from Windows is tough :)

Thanks,
Matt

P.S. How is using su in terminal safer than just logging in as root? I"m sure I could make more mistakes in terminal as su than i ever could loggin in as root and using the GUI.

When you use rpm based distros you don't really have much choice about where to install rpms because they are binary packages that install their files into locations pre-determined by the person who created the rpm.