tmalloy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: t> 1. Is is normally best to try something out in my home directory before t> installing it as root? Will this always be possible?
It's often a good idea, though in the past I haven't necessarily. :-) If you install things in /usr/local so that they don't overwrite Debian's files, you'll probably be able to avoid problems. t> 2. Should source file normally be (tar -zxvf *.tar.gz) in /, or /usr, or t> /usr/local, or somewhere else? Probably not, possibly, likely, and likely. :-) I usually unpack sources in /usr/local/src or under my home directory. I'd recommend avoiding unpacking sources in /usr/src since that is technically Debian's space and not the local administrator's. t> Do most programmers expect that you are installing from a t> particular directory? No. Well-written programs should make no assumptions about the directory you are installing _to_, either. t> 3. What fundamental differences are there in the file system structure of t> debian as compared to say other Linux distributions, or other Unix's t> (sun-OS, hpux, aix), that are relevant to compilation and installation t> issues. That is what kinds of changes commonly need to be t> made to make files and install scripts. Usually, very few. Most modern Un*ces have a /var filesystem, and I believe the majority of source packages out there use it properly. Similarly, I believe the majority of systems have /sbin and /usr/sbin directories; system executables (i.e. init) no longer go in /etc. -- _____________________________ / \ "The cat's been in the box for over | David Maze | 20 years. Nobody's feeding it. The | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | cat is dead." | http://donut.mit.edu/dmaze/ | -- Grant, on Schroedinger's Cat \_____________________________/ -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
