where is " Program files " folder in linux

[hasan]

1) like winbloze where is the program files folder in linux?

2) all the programs or applications installed from a *.gz, *.tgz, *.bz2 etc how to uninstall them if
it is required?

[Dillinger]

1. There is no program files folder, things are put all over the place. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but the most common places are /usr /var and your home directory. The executable file is placed in /usr/bin, any custom stuff goes in a /.whatever folder in your home directory and so on. Someone else may be able to explain this better, this is just my take on it.

2. make uninstall

[Hellmasker]

to uninstall something, so to the unzipped folder (eg. the on eu installed it from and type make uninstall

the way the programs setup works is slightly harder to understand thatn windoze but makes it a lot easier to recover from reinstalls etc.

settings files go in /home/yournamehome/.programname

executables go in /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin or /bin. Some also go to /sbin or /usr/sbin. anything in these files is only executable by root. U can still type /sbin/programname but they dotn work if u just type the name at a terminal.

the actual programs go (usualy) in /usr/share or /usr/local although many will install soem extra shared librarie sin /lib

in short: dont go trying to remove a program 1 file at a time.

[hasan]

so that means if we need to uninstall a program sometime in future, then we should keep the unzipped folder?

i mean there could be lot of reasons to uninstall. may be u found a better program or u realize u dont need it, or there is a new version

so for that we need to keep the folder which was created using the tar command?

2) also i want to install alvaro's messenger [a clone of msn messenger]

i did installl it in my previous installations of linux. but before i do it again.

where should i install that program? i mean i will download the *.gz file to my /home/username and then unzipping it there, where should i direct it to reside?

thanks,
hasan

[Dillinger]

Yeah it's good to keep the unzipped folder so you can uninstall it later. The thing with AMSN is that wherever you unpack it is where it will stay, so wherever you want it to live is where you should place it. There isn't even any installing to be done, as long as you have tlc/tk interpereter installed, you'll be running amsn right from wherever you unpack it.

[Dolda2000]

You might want to read through this old post:
http://www.linuxforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=1212