file management and making stuff :)

[sde]

with this last project, i've been downloading a lot of source files, and compiling them to install.

i'm trying to figure out the proper way to manage the files here.

let's say i download abc.tar.gz, .. before i configure and make it , should i put it in /usr/local ? or /usr/src ? .. where should these files reside after being compiled and installed?

[Belisarius]

I had been putting them into their own directories in /opt, but then I realized why people installed them into /usr/local; you don't need to update your PATH and whatnot ten million times. While I like to be able to compartmentalize my programs, the utility of being able to access them all so easily by having them share directories is too great.

I'd make a directory to store all the sources, so if you need to recompile later you'll have them in a single, convenient spot. /usr/local/src or /opt/src is what I'd suggest.

[idx]

Ditto.. (probably just burned into my brain from freebsd)

Although I notice that quite a bit of 3rd party software is installed in /opt by our other unix admins (AIX .. previously HPUX) and I agree that it's a PITA unless they go about creating symlinks for common programs.

-r

[sde]

thanks for the replies that makes sense.