where to download/activate apps?
 

I'm faced (once again) with the dilemma of where to locate an app (fresh off the internet) before bursting it onto my [Mandrake 10.1] system.

I'm tempted to put it into /usr/local/bin* because I've learned that things just work right from there: e.g., I have a bunch of utility [.sh] scripts that I put there, where they are always available from anywhere within my /home directory, simply by entering a script name. I used to keep a bunch of copies of each one of those (scripts) salted thru my /home/subdirectories, shifting them around as needed, until I discovered (or...ahem, Googled into) the beauty of /u/l/b*. I have, however, been warned against installing stuff outside of my home directory; been advised to always put stuff in /u/l/b*; been advised that it really doesn't matter where stuff is installed.

So, one last...definitive...answer. Where should I put this new app, that serves all purposes and risks little?

/usr/local/bin is pretty safe, and it's available to all users. if you are the only user, you can create a /bin folder in your home directory and put them there. You may need to add that directory to your $PATH.

The biggest advantage that I see to using your /home directory, (assuming /home is on a separate partition as it should be), is that you can reinstall Linux, even a different distro, without worrying about protecting your special little babies.

well, that opened the floor to questions...
 

Doesn't opening a folder (directory?) in /home cancel out the benefits of having an app out in the 'bigger world'? To wit: once I had moved my [afformentioned] utility scripts up to /u/l/b, I was able a) to access them from anywhere within my /home environ, and b) I no longer had to preceed an invocation with './' . As I perceive the issue (and I'm not so confident of how solid I am on this) a script would work as long as it resided in a folder higher up the directory tree than the location from where I was calling it. Do I make sense a) with my comment, and b) with the accuracy of it? Hence, (if I'm on good ground here) any app residing up in /u/l/b is above any place I might be calling it from (from within /home). I know all this has something to do with $PATH, but I found that whenever I created a new folder in /home, I had to add to $PATH, such that it was becoming bloated. Part of what I did by moving stuff 'up the hill' was aimed at streamlining that process.

Uhm...you hadda ask embarrasing questions, didn't you? Truth is, I got hung up on creating partitions when I installed Linux, threw up my hands, and threw all the eggs in one basket (after all, it was just gonna be temporary, while I learned what Linux was all about). That was a year and better in the past, and now I'm in thick as thieves. I've got a whole boatload of [work related] apps, all kinds of saved projects, a vast warehouse of Python scripts (rudimentary stuff-I'm using Linux as a platform to learn programming) and I have, at various times, adapted the latest slant of advice, first installing this app here, and the next one there, and so on, to the point where I've got important stuff scattered everywhere. Yea, I know...I'm in deep hooey. At this point I haven't a clue how to gracefully back out and start all over. (Any advice here would be more than welcome, folks...please feel free to dive in.) In other words, I've grown just enough that a lot of this stuff is now 'mission critical' and my job depends on it. I have learned just enough about Linux to dig a deep hole, but not enough about the shovel I used. (If you've perceived this as a subtle plea for help, you're dead on!)