Compiled successfully - now what?
 

I've been compiling some software lately, and have finally gotten to the point where I understand enough of what's going on that programs are actually working. So my question is, once I've compiled and tested the software, where do I put it?

I've been extracting my software in /tmp . So I just downloaded and compiled Filelight, and it runs fine. But the actual program is in /tmp/filelight-0.6.4/src . Should I move the executable to /usr/bin ? Should I leave everything else in /tmp or should I move it elsewhere? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-dbc

I'd suggest reading README and INSTALL.

Most program packages will tell you to run
a "make install" when it compiled & tested
fine ... no idea whether that's the same with
filelight... :}


Cheers,
Tink

so what should i do if there is no "make install"? where do most people put their apps? do I copy the whole folder, including the source? Does it matter? Seems like /usr/local/bin/appname is a good place for apps, any possible problems there?

well if the program is set to run immediately after uncompressing the tarball (ex, firefox, thunderbird, etc...) then just extract the folder wherever you want ... if you don't care that its in tmp, then so be it ...
it don't matter ... me personally when i get programs like that, i do extract them to /usr/local/bin ... but thats just me ... some just leave it in their home folder .. it don't matter ...
and like Tink said, read the README and INSTALL files ... they tell you typically steps for the software ...they will tell you if they require ./configure, make, make install, or whatever it may be ...

You might want to try reading a post before replying. There is such a thing as a README file and an INSTALL file. It is included in the filelight sources. That seems to much for you to bother with, so I'll help you out.

Thanks for your help
 

Thanks a lot for the help guys. Looks like I'll be putting apps in /usr/local/bin for the time being.

But I have to say that telling people to "look at README and INSTALL" really only needs to be said once per thread.

"You might want to try reading a post before replying."
This is just rude. You can tell that I read the README and INSTALL by this part:
"I just downloaded and compiled Filelight, and it runs fine."
How would someone compile and run a program if they didn't know to read the README and INSTALL files?

Lighten up, OK comp? You repeated what 2 other people said, except that they said it nicely, and you were a prick about it. Are you trying to help Linux or scare people away?

Anyway, thanks again for the help. Sorry about the rant!