where to install programs?
 

What is the convention concerning the location of programs installed by the user? I'm trying to install mysql, but I'm not sure where i should keep all the stuff I got out of the tarball.

Technically you could install software wherever you want. There is, of course, a standard. If you use your distro's package manager, things may not be installed IAW the standard, but they'll be managed such that things shouldn't break. That said, typically the /usr, /usr/local, or /opt hierarchies should be used.

The conventions vary widely, but the rule is universal: You can install your SW anywhere you want. For example, some people have a bin directory in /home/username.

Linux--being a cousin to Unix--has many of the same quirks and incomprehensibilities--much of which is traceable to being designed from the ground up as a multi-user system.

I am hoping to learn more about Gobo Linux, which throws out all the Unix baggage and takes a fresh approach.
www.gobolinux.org

What distro are you using? Save yourself a lot of headaches and use the package manager rather than install anything manually. Generally it's unnecessary and distros put a lot of work in the package manager for a reason.

@cs-cam: Completely agree.

@va1damar: And since your just starting out, always try to search for a package as much as possible using package manager or commands(if your familiar with). In this way you won't have to go through 'dependancy hell'. Once you're mature enough to differentiate between two packages, you can experiment all you want.

Good Luck :)

Either use the package manager (which has is "responsible for where to install software") if available or install it on /home/username/bin if it's a tar (...like Firefox).

I try and use packages where possible. However occasionally I need to compile software. I find the document at FHS incomprehensible. For instance what does this mean?

I also noticed this on the linuxpackages site where I pick up most of my slackware packages.

I'm using suse 10.1 which makes the package manager YaST2 I guess. I've installed mysql and apache using the software->software management tool. But in each case all I know is that it's installed somewhere (in a standard location I suppose, but that's no help to me yet). It would be really nice to have a log of install locations.

Also, I haven't yet figured out how to use yast to install something i download as a tarball (apache & mysql were on the installation cds). But with your recommendations I think I'll look into yast a little more.

The tarballs are in general sourcecode. Untar it and look for a file called : config/Config/configure/Configure.
This is an exectuable script checking your system before it makes (compiles) the source.
Run the configure script from your shell (CD your shell to the folder of the configure script) and if the config part goes well, meaning no warnings or error stops, you can just type : make , make install.

The Makefile incluedes at lot info about the installation , but no need to change it unless you have some very specific preferances.

PS! Other tarballs, like fexample opera browser or Java, has a file called normally somethingn like install.sh. This is a setup program that will normally prompt you about this and that and should also be started from the shell

Hi.
If you can find checkinstall, it may help you with installable items that are not in package format. It's best to have the package manager know about applications that are installed. It can be problematical to remove all components manually ... cheers, makyo