Where should be the applications be placed?

[BlueGemini]

I'm a total noob on Linux and I'm currently learning it and so far I'm already getting an idea on how to manage it.. but I wanna ask regarding the installing of applications on Linux.

From what I understand so far, installing programs on Linux is basically extracting it (like from .tar.gz) and put it where you want it and all of it are effectively done through the command line of Linux... right?

But where should EXACTLY the programs must be place? I've read few topics regarding that and they always have different directions on where should the installed programs be place... like for example, I just installed Mozilla Thunderbird on my Ubuntu and place it at /USR/LOCAL/ (just followed the directions I read) but other topics I've read had different approach.

So, I wanna know if there's a standard place for all the programs installed at Linux, if there any, that is...


Thanks in advance

[egan]

It depends what kind of package. If you are the sytem administrator, and all the users need to use the package, put it in /usr/local. If it is private, put in ~/bin and add that to your path in .bashrc.

[BlueGemini]

It depends what kind of package. If you are the sytem administrator, and all the users need to use the package, put it in /usr/local. If it is private, put in ~/bin and add that to your path in .bashrc.

Hmm... so I guess I did that right. But there are still things I need to know on using the Ubuntu... like what's that .bashrc. I still don't get that, sorry. I'm still a complete noob

But thank you very much for the reply

[scutiform]

Most of the programs and applications you need can be got directly (and free) from either Applications > Add/Remove or from System > Administration > Synaptic package manager. These have a list of thousands of programs/applications etc. You just use the search box to find what you need. This will be installed in the correct place for you. If you download a program/application then refer to the How-to page on this forum.

[reed9]

From what I understand so far, installing programs on Linux is basically extracting it (like from .tar.gz) and put it where you want it and all of it are effectively done through the command line of Linux... right?

You misunderstand. As scutiform said, installation and management of software happens almost exclusively through your package manager.

All distro these days have some form of package management, which vastly simplifies the process of tracking, installing, upgrading, and removing software packages.

Compiled software packages are often referred to as a binary package, or executable. These are roughly analogous with Window's .exe files.

Usually, if you are downloading a program in .tar.gz format, this is the source code, and still needs to be compiled to run. Occasionally, binaries are distributed in an archive format like this.

Included in software packages are instructions on where to install the software. The executable portion of most software in put in /usr/bin. System wide configuration files are often in /etc or subdirectory thereof and local user configurations are in the user's home directory. There are also locations for documentation (/usr/share/doc) or the files the populate the panel menu (/usr/share/applications)

It gets quite complicated to try and maintain all that manually. But you can install software to your own custom location. A lot of times, people put custom software or scripts in /usr/local/bin. But there is some debate on that.

The system looks for executables based on the PATH variable. This is just a variable that contains the locations to look for executable programs. You can add your own location to $PATH, and one place to do that is in your shell configuration file. In most cases, the default shell used is Bash. But there are many other shells. I use zsh myself.

.bashrc is the local user configuration file for Bash. Many programs use the convention of placing a local configuration file in the user's home directory in the format of .namerc. So the Z-shell config is .zshrc. As far as I know, the rc bit stands for runtime configuration, but that's hearsay on my part.

[reed9]

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

[scutiform]

A quick add on

If you want to download a program from the web, look for the fles ending with .deb These will open with a program called GDebi which will do an automatic install for you. Also BASH is a scripting program whereby you can write a series of instructions to do a particular job, and call it up by name. A lot of bash commands are already in the library. Google linux bash for more info

[reed9]

If you want to download a program from the web, look for the fles ending with .deb These will open with a program called GDebi which will do an automatic install for you.

I would actually be wary of that for a couple of reasons.

First, a deb package built for Debian or even a different Ubuntu release might not work. You should only use deb packages built for your particular distro and release. Programs in linux are not self-contained. They depend on an array of shared libraries. A package for Ubuntu Jaunty might require different libraries or versions of libraries than are available on Ubuntu Karmic.

2. Random deb packages from the web can contain malicious software. Only download packages from trusted sources. Packages from official or trusted 3rd party repositories are also usually signed for added security.

You put yourself at risk by installing untrusted deb packages.

There are a number of avenues for acquiring packages not available in the official repos that are pretty safe.

Ubuntu has a well known 3rd party repo, medibuntu, that is trustworthy.

There are also a number of personal package archives for extra software. There has not yet been an incident of malicious code in the PPA repos, but it is certainly possible. So it's worth being careful with these, but the risk is fairly small.

[daark.child]

To learn about what .bashrc is and other stuff related to the command line, take a look at Linux Command.

[BlueGemini]

You misunderstand. As scutiform said, installation and management of software happens almost exclusively through your package manager.

All distro these days have some form of package management, which vastly simplifies the process of tracking, installing, upgrading, and removing software packages.

Compiled software packages are often referred to as a binary package, or executable. These are roughly analogous with Window's .exe files.

Usually, if you are downloading a program in .tar.gz format, this is the source code, and still needs to be compiled to run. Occasionally, binaries are distributed in an archive format like this.

Ah, I see... so there's already a package management to be use for installing. I always thought that installing applications in Linux in general is always done through Command Line

To learn about what .bashrc is and other stuff related to the command line, take a look at Linux Command.

Yeah, actually I'm planning to start over there to know the commands of Linux coz I think I'll be doing that more often at Ubuntu

Thank you very much for all your replies. All of those will be a great help for me on learning this