hello:

i want to set my HOME directory to /usr/local
then which file should i edit , and how to edit it .
regards

/etc/passwd

You could do that, but dare I ask why?

Also, you would need to modify the permissions on /usr/local for it to be usable.

IMO, keep it in it's own partition and mount /home to it.

because many software of my own have been installed into that directory.
so i want to set the default directory to the /usr/local instead of /

You should install software to /usr/local so thats perfectly normal.
Then you make symlinks of the binaries to /usr/local/bin and you can start them by just typing the program name in a terminal.

You should also never install software to your /home folder. Even if its a single user system I wouldn't recommend it.
And you should also know that / is the root directory not /home. /home is a directory inside /.

I would also recommend to have /home on a seperate partion if your system would crash, and believe me, that happens alot when you experiment around with different settings etc.
Then you can just reinstall the OS without removing your personal files and settings.

Hi,
Changing your home dir to /usr/local won't generally change the location of software you install. Your home directory is where your personal files (configuration files, documents etc.) live. Your home directory is defined in the file /etc/passwd.

Seriously, I don't you change it to /usr/local.

Jim

i mean that when i open the command shell, it will go into the /usr/local directily
regards

Hi,
You could just add the following command to the file .profile in your current home directory if you just want to go to this dir on login:

cd /usr/local

Regards,
Jim