Where should I install my application
 

II have developed a deskttop app on Windows, Im now testing it on Linux (Red Hat Fedura 2)
It some time since I used unix in any form and I was wondering what the current practise was for installing applications.
/usr/bin,
/bin,
/opt,
/home/user

all seem to me to be possible locations

I used to use something called pkgadd but it doesnt seem to exist anymore I guess this has been replaced by RPM, although nothing Ive installed with RPM has turned up in the desktops Add/Remove Programs yet.

There also the issue of wheher the user need to be logged on as root or not.

Also unix used to install progs in /usr/bin and config files in /etc. But my prog is currently installed as one thing, does this matter.

If someone could point me in the right direction ?

you don't need to worry about where files go, instead you need to wirte a technically comptent (and potentially tiiny) makefile.am and configure.in to allow automake and autoconf to generate all teh configuartion scripts which will control where the files actually get placed. there are a few really good guides about these programs dotted around. going this way means that your app will be able to be installed in the standard source route of ./configre, make, make install. of course once built you also have the option of packaging for RPM or such like.

/bin and /sbin are for system/boot utilities
/usr/sbin /usr/bin are for general tools/applications

while /usr/local/sbin and /usr/local/bin are where you install applications which
didn't come with your distro, but this is mostly for people who mount /usr/local onto the filesystem.

config files should be kept in etc if formaly installed, and more per-user config files should be stored at /home/user/.configfile

Also, linux lacks a centrel database for installed programs.
This has since been fixed (kinda) by programs such as rpm.