Re: Dumb Question: Installing new version of Kopete

[Andrey Andreev <andreev cs helsinki fi>]

James Wilkinson wrote:
> Andrey Andreev wrote:
>
> > BTW, maybe I shall mention that modern Linux does not have a directory 
> > organization similiar to Windows's "Program Files". Our binaries usually 
> > go in /usr/bin, our libraries in /usr/lib, our configuration files in 
> > /etc, etc.. We tend to use some packaging system (RPM for Fedora, and 
> > many others) to keep track of what goes where, and do the management 
> > (uninstalls, upgrades, etc).
> >
> > Look at
> >
> > http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/index.html
> >
> > and look at some RPM documentation. to get a clearer idea of how it works.
>
>
> Well, there have been variations on the theme, but that must predate
> Linux by at least ten years...

I agree, but there has been abuse of /usr/local by distros in the past, 
and we've been seeing less and less of it recently, which is what I 
referred to when I said "modern".

> Note that there are similar trees under /usr/local (e.g. /usr/local/bin
> instead of /usr/bin). It's been recommended since RPMs were new that if
> you're compiling from source (without using rpmbuild and / or rpm), you
> should configure the program to put files there, rather than in /usr/bin
> or wherever. This keeps them out the way of the RPM-installed files, and
> makes it that much easier to clean them out later.

Sure, but I'd point out that the OP's files are likely to end up in 
/usr, rather than /usr/local. Otherwise, this is wise advice to people 
writing makefiles.

> Many people find it easier in the long run to build RPMs.

//Andro