(forw) Re: [SLUG] Where to put all the gear

[Rick Moen <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nicholas seems to have inadvertantly sent this off-list.

----- Forwarded message from Nicholas Reese <nicholas_reese@xxxxxxxxxxx> -----

From: "Nicholas Reese" <nicholas_reese@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Rick Moen" <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [SLUG] Where to put all the gear
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 20:42:59 +1000
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6700

OK, a little bit of fuzzy logic. When reading some info about Mysql it says
to unpack and set it up in /usr/local/src (the mysql tarball), but when I
run the RPM it sets it up in /usr/share . I want to set up apache, mysql,
the perl db interace modules, mod_perl and php, and get them to all work
nicely - where is the best place/s under the file structure to do this?

thanks,

Nick Reese

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Moen" <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <slug@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2001 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: [SLUG] Where to put all the gear


> begin Nicholas Reese quotation:
>
> > I have a question that may be simple - and I haven't found a straight
> > answer for it yet. Where is the best place to unpack and set
> > everything up.
>
> Your question is unfortunately a little fuzzy, which makes it difficult
> to answer.  It's unclear what "unpack and set everything up" means.
> Perhaps you could give a few "for instances".
>
> > First up - I am usually logged onto my machines as root....
>
> Mistake.  You'll realise, sooner or later, that you should keep the
> amount of time logged in as the root user to a minimum.  Each command
> you issue as the root user has the potential for vast disaster.  You
> really don't want to be swinging lightning bolts around, all the time.
> Trust me.  Or have the experience of accidentally recursively deleting,
> chowning, chmoding, or chgrping key parts of your system directory tree
> by accident -- and learn the hard way.
>
> > Second - from what I read some say unpack everything in /usr/local/ ,
> > others say unpack in /usr/local/src , and when I run an RPM it unpacks
> > in /usr/share - I am a RedHat distro user by habit - QUESTION - where
> > is the best place then?
>
> With some exceptions, you don't specify where an RPM is to be unpacked.
> The packager has specified, _inside_ the RPM's metadata, where all the
> various bits and pieces inside the RPM are to be installed.  (And, by
> the way, I'm slightly confused by your bit about "running an RPM", since
> RPMs are not executable files.)
>
> /usr/local/src is a cubbyhole where you might store the master copies
> of source-code tarballs.  Some people also, through an extension of that
> logic somewhat more broadly, chuck copies of other types of master
> files, such as the original copies of binary RPMs that you downloaded
> and installed.
>
> /usr/local as a whole is a hierarchy into which you may place "locally
> installed" software -- software not part of your initial system load.
> E.g., the libraries for add-on software might land in /usr/local/lib,
> the system binaries in /usr/local/sbin, the regular-user binaries
> in /usr/local/bin, etc.
>
> When I compile a program from a source-code tarball, I leave the tarball
> itself in /usr/local/src.  I do the actual compile from some work area,
> somewhere (it doesn't matter where), from which I later delete those
> files.  In the process of compilation, I instruct the compiler toolchain
> that it's to install the newly-compiled files to directories branching
> off /usr/local, i.e., /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/man,
> etc.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> --
> Cheers,              "Not using Microsoft products is like being a
non-smoker
> Rick Moen           40 or 50 years ago:  You can choose not to smoke,
yourself,
> rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx  but it's hard to avoid second-hand smoke."  -- M.
Tiemann
>
> --
> SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
> More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug


----- End forwarded message -----