I just downloaded mozilla firefox in .tar.gz. I saved it in '/home/myprof/downloads'.
If i 'tar -xvzf <firebox-blah-blah...>, it will create a new folder in there, and from then on,
i can give './configure' -> 'make' -> 'make install'...
Now here's the question:
Suppose i'm done with the whole setup. When i run the application, will it run from
'/home/myprof/downloads/firefox', or will the 'make install' script put all the necessary files in
their correct paths?
And, in general, is there some kind of 'default' folder to install all the proggies i d/l? (sth like /usr/bin?)
Thanx in advance.

I just untarred the firefox-etc.tar.gz, and then copied the firefox directory to /usr/local/. After that, all you need to do is run firefox and your done. No need to ./configure, make, make install etc.

Baldrick

SUing to root and running the 'make install' step is the part that installs the software.
Most applications will install into either /usr/bin/ or /usr/local/bin.
It really depends on how the application was written. Also, there will probably be library files written to /usr/lib, and document files somewhere else. For mozilla, there will be a /usr/lib/mozilla directory containing loads of files.

If you're running Linux, start the Firefox script. So in your case but yes, once it's installed (usually to /usr/bin/ ) and your can rm -r the download dir...

It depends on each software package. The author of the package determines where everything should go. If you type ./config --help, conscientious authors will list the default paths for the software.

Most packages installed from source are installed by default to the /usr/local hierarchy. /usr/local is intended for all packages installed by the user on a local machine, as opposed to packages installed by the distro. Most packages will install the executable binary to /usr/local/bin, libraries to /usr/local/lib, shared data files to /usr/local/share/name_of_package, etc.

Most package authors will also have uninstall information in their makefiles. Run make uninstall to do this. Hopefully, it should work.

That said, I believe Mozilla and OpenOffice are entirely self-contained by default. These kinds of packages install everything to where you unpack it eg. '/home/myprof/downloads/firefox'. In these cases, you will probably have to create a symlink (ie. a 'shortcut') on your executable path (/usr/local/bin is on your executable path) to the program i.e. (as root) ln -s /home/myprof/downloads/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox.

However, I notice you are using SuSE, so the best thing would be for you to use your distro's package system to install Mozilla Firefox. Search for a SuSE rpm. Does YAST do online installation, like apt-get, urpmi or yum?

If you are determined to install from source, I suggest using checkinstall.

Instead of doing './configure && make && make install', you do './configure && make && checkinstall'. Checkinstall monitors the installation, logs where all the files go, and then at the end, creates a convenient package in either rpm, deb or tgz format. It integrates with your distro's package manager, so you can use rpm to either remove the package or re-install it.

Thanx for the immediate responses guys..
@Baldrick65
may i ask why in /usr/local and not in /usr/local/bin?

@jschiwal
i guess what you mean is that the make scripts DO put files in their correct folders, right?

Sorry if i sound stupid but i can't understand what is going on with the folders at all....

I simply put the firefox directory there e.g./usr/local/firefox. I just run the firefox script from there. It makes it easier to download and test other builds of firefox/firebird.

HTH
Baldrick

and if it matters... I got my answer from the firefox website...

http://texturizer.net/firefox/download.html#install

good luck. hope it all works out for ya

According to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard the /usr directory is the 'Secondary hierarchy'. The /bin directory contains essential user binaries, the /sbin contains 'root' administrative binaries that are needed to boot or repair a problem. The libraries used by these programs, and the kernel libraries needed to boot are located in /lib. Also, these directories should not be shared with other hosts.
The /usr directory contains many of the subdirectories of the root '/' directory. /usr/bin contains most user commands. The shared libraries for the programs in /usr/bin will go in /usr/lib.

The /usr/local directory also contains 'bin' and 'lib' and other directories. These directories are for non-essential programs that are installed after the installation. Programs that you download from the net, and aren't on the installation disks should go here. The /usr/local directories should be empty by the initial installation process. Updating the system, or re-installing should leave the /usr/local contents alone.

In some systems, there are a large number of hosts that share the /usr, /opt, /var/mail, and /var/spool/news directories on a central server. This way, the person maintaining the computers installs most of the software in one place. So when someone writes an application, they want the programs and library files installed in a standard location, so that a person can use it regardless whether they have a single linux host, or work in a large network.

thanx a lot for the info ;-)

A couple of questions as 'i continue my mission to exploring the new Linux world':
Q#1
I have xmms 1.2.8 installed and i want to upgrade to v.1.2.10.
When i 'rpm -q xmms' i get a response with the version installed..
I guess this means that xmms was installed by an .rpm package...
The application path is: /usr/bin/xmms.
The latest version of xmms comes in g/bzipped archive.
What is the correct order to upgrade?
Should i 'rpm -e xmms' and then go on with the make scripts,etc?

Q#2
XMMS and firefox have awful fonts. I found an article about an Xft package (or sth like that) which is supposed to help out???
The link is:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6854

Is this really the solution to my problem and if it is, what happens with applications which come in .rpm but are not aware of the system fonts (like xmms in my case).
Thanx in advance...