I'm trying to find out when to use prefix like --prefix=/usr Most software state in their ReadMe that all you have to do is ./configure, make and make install. For some software it works on slack and for a lot it doesn't and you need to use prefixes. How to find out what to use if there are no packages of software I'd like to use? (kde bluetooth for instance). All the bluez components need the prefix=/usr. I didn't know that untill finding a personal page discribing the install. Any pointers on how to find out when and what to use?

Regards

It would be after ./configure

ex ./configure --prefix=/usr

If you want control of where everything goes, then always use the --prefix= flag. It won't do any harm, and you'll know where you installed everything

It's better to use the ./configure --prefix=/usr/local . That way you don't overwrite things of the distribution. Out of the box the /usr/local tree only contains empty directories, so that's the place to install your non standard software.

another tip: use checkinstall! You can find it in the extra directory of slackware.

It's a really GREAT tool that creates slackware packages from your self compiled tools. They're probably not the best for distribution but this way you can deinstall older software with less hassle.

checkinstall does the "make install" part for you so the command line would be `./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && checkinstall`