permission prob
 

Hi.to all
well as I finally found this spot you should know that I'm a newbe to Linux. So here goes my first of probably many threads.

I finely figured out how to install software that I d/l from the web. Thought I had a grip on that but maybe not.

I made a new dir. "downloads" in my home dir. now I want to d/l file into that dir. witch works, except when I try to install, from the downloads dir. It gives me this message permission denied
So I used the sl -l and found out that I had permission (I think) well anyway it came back drwxrwxrwx for the downloads dir.
so I moved the d/l back into the Documents dir. and now I can install it.
SO my ? is how do I get permission to install software from the downloads dir.?
And then how do I know that there installed? IE: I installed Netscape but I can't seem able to find it anywhere browsing from my desktop?
I know these ? are probably simple, but I've only had Mandrake on my system for about 5 days and my mind is still in the gutter with MS WINDOWS XP. So these things are pretty confusing to me. But I'm willing to learn and enjoy the challenge.

Did you tried to install it as root or su (superuser)

and what also help is to read the INSTALL or README file in the
downloaded package

the install dir i use is /usr/local/src

good luck

To change permissions of files for reading (r) writing (w) executing (X) use:

chmod

Try "man chmod" in a terminal and check it out.

I think installed software goes to the usr/bin folder, it is probaly in the menu of what ever gui you use. In KDE it is in the kmenu->internet->www

@ jetfreggle
I installed as su root & I read the readme file
it happened with diff. proggy. so I know it's not in the proggy itself.
@SML I don't think I need to change permission as I think I already have permission "drwxrwxrwx" to the downloads dir.
@Edward78 yes this the the 2nd part of prob. It (netscape) should be in the kmenu>networking>www but it's not, so this tells me that it did'nt get totally installed or there's some other prob. ?

How about the following command ...

#whereis filename

That may help you find the mysterious files?

if you made the dir as root then you need to chown <yourusername>.users /path/to/dir

"@Edward78 yes this the the 2nd part of prob. It (netscape) should be in the kmenu>networking>www but it's not, so this tells me that it did'nt get totally installed or there's some other prob. ?"

The kmenu setup is not automatic. You have to put it in there yourself if you want it in the menu. You probably have over one thousand programmes on your system that are not in your menu. Your menu only lists say 30 or so.

Try this in a command shell:
#cd /usr/bin
#ls -l

This is a start of all of your software on the computer. To execute any of them type:
#./filename

Hence to answer your netscape problem, you need to find where you installed the netscape folder. Open it and look for the netscape executable file. Then click on it if you are in konqueror or type "./netscape" if you are in a command shell.