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Where does Linux place installed applications?

Hi,
Normally when you install a Windows program it gets placed in the Program Files Folder. (sometimes it puts things in their funky Registry)

I am getting ready to install Linux. Maybe Ubuntu? I'm not sure yet.

I have read lots of documentation but I can't find a coherent answer.

I would like to make several partitions. I heard that this was a good idea.

So far I have I have figured out I need at least these three:
/ (for a root directory)
/swap (that helps if you have low memory)
/home (where I put my files)

Are programs installed in /home?

If not then I also want a partition where the programs go. I like to install zillions of applications.

When a new version or upgrade comes out I just want to install the new version and not mess up any of the other stuff.

thanks a lot.

/usr/bin
Should contain all executables of programs you can install with synaptic but are not necessary for the system to boot (so everything that comes with the distribution).

/usr/local/bin
Should contain all executables of programs you installed yourself (self compiled stuff, etc).

/usr/sbin
Should contain all executables that are necessary for the system to boot (of course these also come with your distribution).

In Debian (and therefore Ubuntu), essential command binaries are installed to /bin and essential system binaries are installed to /sbin. These are the things that are needed for your system to boot up. Most everything else will get installed to /usr/bin (regular user applications) or /usr/sbin (administrative tools). So if you wanted to create a 4th partition for /usr, you could lay out 10GB for that.

But to be perfectly honest, I only have the three partitions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez (Post 3916861)

Thanks for the replies.

10GB?
My Windows System uses 47GB for apps that are located in Program Files and another 20 or so GB for apps located else where. One FltSim takes almost 9GB.

I am an app freak. Some people collect stamps; others beer cans ... I collect apps.

So, in this case I would want to make my partition larger if I understand what you are saying that /usr is that location.

So that being said, I have a 250GB drive with 512 memory, A reasonable scheme for me would be:
/ root at 12GB
/swap @ 1 - 1.5GB (slow machine)
/usr @ 25 - 35 GB
/home the rest.

I read some people create a separate /tmp (because that fills up and stops the machine)
Any thoughts on that?

How many physical partitions can a person create?

The complete install from slackware 13.0, with all the included software takes 5.8GB

Code:

root@cannabis:Downloads]# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/root              55G  5.8G  46G  12% /

/dev/sda3            171G  49G  113G  31% /home

/dev/sdb1            230G  189G  29G  87% /data

tmpfs                1010M    0 1010M  0% /dev/shm

root@cannabis:Downloads]#

/home and /data contain my personel files,(doc,mp3,avi,mpg..) no system files.

Make your / big enough 50 GB should be enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by repo (Post 3916933)

The complete install from slackware 13.0, with all the included software takes 5.8GB

Code:

root@cannabis:Downloads]# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/root              55G  5.8G  46G  12% /

/dev/sda3            171G  49G  113G  31% /home

/dev/sdb1            230G  189G  29G  87% /data

tmpfs                1010M    0 1010M  0% /dev/shm

root@cannabis:Downloads]#

/home and /data contain my personel files,(doc,mp3,avi,mpg..) no system files.

Make your / big enough 50 GB should be enough.

Forgive my ignorance. I have no idea what slakware is. Is it a similar data structure as Ubuntu?

and again ... i do NOT want to put applications in the / directory.

Quote:

Forgive my ignorance. I have no idea what slakware is. Is it a similar data structure as Ubuntu?

It's just another distro like ububtu or debian or suse or...
The structure is for all the same

Note that /usr/bin holds just the executable, other files needed by the program are usually stored in the directory /usr/share/name of program/.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTK358 (Post 3916963)

Note that /usr/bin holds just the executable, other files needed by the program are usually stored in the directory /usr/share/name of program/.

Thanks,
I am assuming that the sub directories you mention bin share are created for me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizarddrummer (Post 3916989)

Thanks,
I am assuming that the sub directories you mention bin share are created for me?

Yes, they are automatically created when you install anything.

in linux it all depends on how the package maintainer likes it to have the package installed.
e.g. through various distributions and versions of them, i've occasionally seen weird things happening: packages being installed in /bin (while it was a system related program) or /sbin (while it wasn't a system related program), and in /usr/local/bin (not self compiled!) and even /opt

Yes, once i've seen it installing in /usr/lib (an executable file!, not a .so), odd but it happend.

anyway:
Programs are executables (don't be mistaken by .exe, since linux doesn't know .exe files), and sometimes also library files (think of .dll files under windows) and those two can on their own be needing other libraries and executables (dependencies), located somewhere throughout the directory structures inside the distribution.

all in all, i would go for a HUGE / (root) partition, inside the root partition all the needed directories are created during installation, and i would make a separate /home partition to hold datafiles (e.g. documents, mp3's, jpg's, save games, backup of downloads (if not downloaded through the repositories) etc etc)
that way, if you ever need to reinstall, the /home data is preserved, and the / is reformatted and installed with the OS, i hope you get the idea. Just like in Windows a separate data partition for documents etc.. and a separate c:\ partition for the OS and installed software (programfiles stuff).

And if really needed a swap partition, equal 1,5 times the size of the actual ram size. (if lower than 1 gig)

a temp dir can be usefull, but not so much if you have a fast enough machine.

good luck! :)