Installing software, /usr/lib directory and /usr/local
 

Got RH9 and am upgrading Mozilla to 1.7. For some reason the redcarpet auto installer doesn't work so am doing it manually. After successfully extracting the compressed file, it lets you choose a directory for install. Default is usr/local/mozilla. Once I did that it's installed, but I noticed it's not in the same location that it was installed in by the RH distribution initially. Also the fonts are all messed up with the new version running from the new directory.

After some detective work I noticed the original Mozilla was installed in usr/lib and usr/bin for the script to run Mozilla. Also noticed you can't use the original tray icon to start the new Mozilla because it still calls up the old Mozilla with the command: mozilla %u. My guess is that that command indicates to run the old mozilla script from the /usr/bin directory, is that right??? How can I get Mozilla to install correctly where the old one was and not have this font display problem??? You can barely read things using the new browser.

Also, any advantage to installing in usr/local rather than usr/lib?

thanks

If you want to use your system fonts you have to make sure you choose a mozilla version with gtk & xft support or else all the fonts in mozilla won't look nice at all. There really is no difference where you install it but /usr/lib is usually meant for software supplied by the distributor and /usr/local for software you install on our own.

You will need to remove the old mozilla rpm and install mozilla in the folder that you want. You will then have to do the following as root to create a symbolic liiink to the mozlla executable.

ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla /usr/bin/mozilla

You may need to change the paths above so that they match your systems. Once you've created the symlink above, you can then just run "mozilla" and it should work.

Thanks for the reply.
Where could I get a version that has the gtk&xft support? I just went to www.mozilla.org and downloaded the only tar file they have for linux, in version 1.7.