doc.vic.computerbank.org.au — I've been using Linux for my personal computer for a few years now, but I've never really been interested in where I actually SHOULD put the applications and which I install. This guide does a pretty good job of briefly explaining what data goes in the various directories: /usr, /opt, /var, /etc etc.
Oct 23, 2006 View in Crawl 4
harisundOct 24, 2006
One of the things that annoys me is that on *nix, applications that you install, say from source, throw their files into various places. Now, in certain ways that could be intuitive, in certain ways not so. It's nice to know your configuration files are going to go in /etc, your documentation in the regular documentation directory and so on, but if you want to uninstall it, unless the source vendor provides a make uninstall option, you are left with pieces of the software strewn all around your file system. But yeah, knowing where to find stuff can come in handy. For example, dpkg --listfiles packagename will list out what files the package packagename has installed.
ostracizeOct 24, 2006
the locate command can help here.If you were desperate, I guess you could do two file listings on the whole system and do a diff on them.
thepxcOct 24, 2006
When I install things in Gentoo, I just use emerge and let it take care of the rest. But for programs that aren't in in the repositories yet (or at all), I have a partition I mount in / as "/lin-shared," which is a partition I share (duh) between whatever distributions I have installed. I put a directory with the name of the program in there, and then untar the source tarballs, which usually includes a version string. Then I just re-compile for whichever distro and use the /usr/local prefix.
saftaplanOct 24, 2006
Why should the Linux file system structure be bad? Sure, it could be more descriptive, but at least it's not like in Windows: you have a folder called "Program Files" where all the 3rd party programs, but also some drivers, OS apps and logs are. Then you have the "Windows"-folder where all OS apps, but also some 3rd party programs, drivers and logs are. Then there is the "system"-folder, which is used for nothing but is still there. Then there is the "system32"-folder used for libraries, drivers, OS apps but also some logs are. And where would you think most of the user settings go? Somewhere in the "Documents and Settings"-folder? No, they are kept in another headache called the "Register", with another crazy structure.The only tree that's really messed up is the Windows one, but most people see it as 'user friendly' because they are used to it. You can find the Linux directory structure confusing, but at least it has one.
jugalatorOct 24, 2006
<a class="user" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/220/1983/1600/linux_file_structure.jpg">http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/220/1983/1600/linux_file_structure.jpg</a>
blackadderiiiOct 24, 2006
Always good to have this sort of thing explained to people, and ALWAYS good that people understand exactly where things are on their computer and what it's all about, so they enjoy using it. Dugg for that.Familiarity is the only thing that stands in the way of a newbie "getting" it, so the more transparent it can all be, the better.
greyfadeOct 24, 2006
the description for /opt/ sucks. on Gentoo Linux, /opt/ is used for binary packages, such as Skype, Firefox-bin, Java, etc., which all come precompiled.@flum: i looked at it once before, but now... EW. Gobo has gone to version numbering directories? YUCK.
blackadderiiiOct 25, 2006
"One interesting thing about Unix filesystems is that once you get accustomed to it, finding most stuff is pretty easy. You will know where to go for system configuration, where to go for games, where to go for libraries and so on."Couldn't agree more. This is largely an issue of getting used to something different for a lot of people - having a clearly organised hierarchy becomes a boon once you're used to it, because you've got an idea of where something is happening even if you've never seen the piece of software in your life before - and being able to add/delete/move branches of the "tree" to/from different devices etc. without any problems is just a win for anyone who's ever used a non-unix system."Going back to Windows sometime there after becomes interesting. The c:windows directory structure is an absolute mess. After awhile, Program Files becomes a horrid site; why do i need to know the name of the publisher of something to find the damn program?"" Uhuh, shared apps that keep 1(one) user's app data in the global install directory on a supposed multi-user OS, programs installed under random publishers' names with stuff placed at random in "Common Files" or in the root directory or in some other random place, settings placed in the "Registry" and not cleaned up - it's a lot easier to find and rid yourself of cruft in a system with a clear focus on things being in their right place.Of course, there are some nixen that ain't got that focus at *all* nowadays, haha."I have been wondering what ever happened to 3rd party stuff installing in /usr/local though."Ah, plenty of developers are still plenty good like that.