| From: | Andy Wanless |
| Date: | 4 Sep 2000 at 16:16:47 |
| Subject: | Re: Oh No not linux |
On Mon, 4 Sep 2000, David McMinn wrote:
>
> > One thing I still don't understand about Linux is when you download
> > programs off the net, are you downloading the source code which
> > needs to be compiled with gcc before running. And amoung those numerous
> > partitions that Linux has, where should the program be installed.
>
> That comes from knowing your own system and the "standard" use of
> directories such as /usr etc. There are normal places where you'd put
> things, just as there is on the Amiga and Windows.
That's not necessarily the case. If you download and compile the source
for a program on Linux you'll often end up with it sat in your home
directory and run it from there. (That's the directory you're dumped into
by default when you login. In my case, /home/yd). Sometimes compiling
might be extra complicated and involved typing "make" and then "make
install", which often hides the compiled program in an obscure palce
where you'll never find it ;) (/usr/local is always popular, it seems).
Personally, if I can, I go for precompiled binaries. RPM files are a
lovely invention. Use a fancy GUI for managing all your packages, or just
a simple "rpm -i whatever.rpm" is quite effective. Again, you'll never
know where it's put everything, unless you hunt it down. But it generally
works first time (unless dependency chaos sneaks up on you ;), and you can
uninstall stuff with a similar command. (I think. Never tried it myself.
Oh, there's a -e option, that probably does it ;)
Unless you're doing anything too advanced, like running a server, you
don't really need to know much about the directory structure. I just try
and ignore it and hope it goes away. (Probably why I've got the best part
of 300 directories in my home directory. Should tidy up ;)
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