Linux installs - where should I put them?
Solution 1
There is some kind of "Filesystem Hierarchy Standard":
The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) defines the main directories and their contents in Linux operating systems. For the most part, it is a formalization and extension of the traditional BSD filesystem hierarchy.
I would put that stuff to:
/opt/ Optional application software packages
Read yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
For the rest of your questions:
That's a matter of having the path to the binary / script you want to launch in the PATH variable. According to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables you want to do this via
/etc/environment
. You could also create a 'symbolic link' to the binary or write a launch script which you then place into/usr/bin
or/usr/local/bin
.See 1.
For that you have to create a .desktop file and install it (make an entry in the menu to it) via xdg-desktop-menu.
Solution 2
You should use your system's package manager to do installation whenever possible. The package will be automatically located in an appropriate place. On Xubuntu, it's aptitude/apt-get/synaptic/Ubuntu Software Center. See Adding, Removing and Updating Applications.
Related videos on Youtube
Comments
-
Ashenafi Abera almost 2 years
I am relatively new to Linux, I am using Xubuntu 10.04.
A lot of the software I download from the net, e.g. Aptana/Eclipse are just ZIP files that I open and run.
I wish them to be in a specific folder where I can reach them from everywhere when I run "Eclipse".
I want them to be available to all users.
I want to be able to start them from the drop-down menu on the desktop.
How can I do that?
-
unforgettableidSupportsMonica about 9 years+1. But if only I will use the software, why must I become root and install the software to
/opt
? Wouldn't it be wiser to install the software to somewhere underneath/home/unforgettableid
instead? If you were me, which exact location would you choose? -
akira about 9 years@unforgettableid: you can "place files" wherever you like.
/opt/local
is a convention. the same way you can "place files" wherever you like on MSFT-Windows or on MacOSX. you will break conventions. if that is not an issues to you: go ahead and place the files wherever you like.