Symbolic Link

[BigManPeter]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am pretty new at Linux so I apologize for the stupid question.

Recently, I just installed the g95 FORTRAN compiler and want to create a link to it so I can use it anywhere (ie: in the same way typing "firefox" will open a window no matter what directory you type it in). For example, I just want to able to call the compiler from the directory that includes the source code files like so:

~/research/fortran_code> g95 hello_world.f90

I tried a few different combinations using "ln -s" but the link would never work. I can run the code by moving into the install/bin file of the compiler, but it's really inconvenient. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Rubberman]

Where (what directory and name) was it installed to?

[BigManPeter]

The compiler is installed in this directory:

g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95

[Rubberman]

This is only a relative directory/path. Where, exactly, is it installed? In your home directory?

[BigManPeter]

Yes, sorry, its:

/home/peter/g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95

[Rubberman]

Assuming it also put a lib directory there, you would need to do the following:

1. Create a link to the executable in either /bin or /usr/local/bin: sudo ln -s /home/peter/g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95 /usr/bin/g95
and: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/peter/g95-install/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

The second command is to make the shared libraries available to the compiler and built executables.

[Cabhan]

So I think you're a bit confused on what you're trying to do.

In order to run a program without giving the whole path to it, you need to put the directory of that program into your PATH. You can see your current path by running:

echo $PATH

from the commandline.

So now, I think you have two options.

1) Add ~/g95-install/bin/ to your path:

PATH=~/g95-install/bin:$PATH

2) Create a dedicated local bin directory, add it to your path, and add a symlink to your program from that:

mkdir ~/bin
PATH=~/bin:$PATH
ln -s ~/g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95 ~/bin/g95

In both of these cases, you will probably want to add the PATH variable modification to your bashrc.

Does this make sense?

[BigManPeter]

Assuming it also put a lib directory there, you would need to do the following:

1. Create a link to the executable in either /bin or /usr/local/bin: sudo ln -s /home/peter/g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95 /usr/bin/g95
and: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/peter/g95-install/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

The second command is to make the shared libraries available to the compiler and built executables.

Thanks, I got it to work! I'm definitely printing this out for reference.

[BigManPeter]

So I think you're a bit confused on what you're trying to do.

In order to run a program without giving the whole path to it, you need to put the directory of that program into your PATH. You can see your current path by running:

echo $PATH

from the commandline.

So now, I think you have two options.

1) Add ~/g95-install/bin/ to your path:

PATH=~/g95-install/bin:$PATH

2) Create a dedicated local bin directory, add it to your path, and add a symlink to your program from that:

mkdir ~/bin
PATH=~/bin:$PATH
ln -s ~/g95-install/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-g95 ~/bin/g95

In both of these cases, you will probably want to add the PATH variable modification to your bashrc.

Does this make sense?

So I tried the previous poster's solution and got it to work, but (again, my linux understanding is low), isn't a symbolic link used so you don't have to keep typing in the whole path for an executable (much like a Windows shortcut)? Thanks for the response.