standard file placement

[rudie_rage]

I run slackware. Sometimes slapt-get dosnt have a package i need, so I have to go compile it from source. We've all been there.

What I want to know is where is the somewhat-agreed-upon place for properly storing the source for all the things I have compiled?

for slackware packages, they are all stored in /usr/var/packages/ , but I'm getting quite the collection of source code directories building up in my home directory. So is there a place these are typically stored? I could just delete them, but that makes uninstalling them later a real pain.

[bigtomrodney]

In the old days source was in /usr/src but that convention is gone. Mostly it's just saved in your home directory. Consider that in any package managed system you might see the packages cached in /var/spool/apt/cache or /var/spool/yum or similar.

[rudie_rage]

/usr/src was my best guess. I guess I'll throw them there. I know it dosnt really matter in the long run, but if i took a guess it would be the equivelent of wearing gloves on your feet. Youd still have warm feet, but people would look at you funny if they noticed.

[Freston]

I don't know what other people do, but I have a separate directory in my /home partition for storing the source. But any location on any partition other than / will do. Just in case you'll need a reinstall that is.

[rudie_rage]

I don't know what other people do, but I have a separate directory in my /home partition for storing the source. But any location on any partition other than / will do. Just in case you'll need a reinstall that is.

If I reinstall, then the only reason I have for keeping them is destroyed. I can easily hunt down the packages again, I'm just saving them so I can 'make uninstall' them if I dont want them anymore.

But yeah, keeping anything you want to survive a reformat in your root directory isnt a very good idea. I occasionally back up my /var/www to my home just in case. Dont want to lose my websites.

[Freston]

If I reinstall, then the only reason I have for keeping them is destroyed. I can easily hunt down the packages again, I'm just saving them so I can 'make uninstall' them if I dont want them anymore.

But yeah, keeping anything you want to survive a reformat in your root directory isnt a very good idea. I occasionally back up my /var/www to my home just in case. Dont want to lose my websites.

Ah yes. Of course. But I've had a couple of reinstalls due to trying different distro's, human error, new ideas, cluelessness and part of the learning cycle. Hunting down OOo, installing OOo and KDE's localization and dictionaries, Firefox (latest and greatest), touchpad driver and the works bored the hell out of me after a couple of runs.

Now I have a install howto (howto make an empty system into Frestons system) and some wasted disk space with back ups of useful programs.

But it works as the perfect place to keep your uninstall too.



You could also try to make your own nifty little Slackpacks and let the system decide how to handle it. checkinstall
I haven't really tried it myself yet, but word is, it's excellent.