In general, stuff that ships with or is provided by the distribution goes in /usr whereas stuff you compile yourself goes in /usr/local.<br><br>/usr/local even has i's own etc and you can put local-brewed start up scripts and configs there.<br>
<br>For nearly all current systems, the path will have /usr/local BEFORE /usr so your compiled stuff will get found first.<br><br>There are some oddball things (like java) that don't go in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin but they get handled by separate path structures.<br>
<br>For new users the key directories to understand are /home (and the "dot" files in $HOME) and probably /usr/share (where things like docs and pixmaps and desktop backgrounds hide!) are good things to know about. The basics of the structure (i.e. no more C:) and things like unmount before eject (most current distros will do it for you) and the general separation of privileges (i.e. root is dangerous unless you are careful) are good topics to look at as well.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2008/5/29 Marc Ferguson <<a href="mailto:mferguson@digitalalias.net">mferguson@digitalalias.net</a>>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi,<br><br><b>What is the difference between /usr and /usr/local?<br></b><br>I'm very excited that my wife has finally joined the linux community (through openSUSE 10.3). Now that I have to hold her hand for almost everything she does with the system, she asks lots of questions and /usr vs. /usr/local totally stumps me. I thought I knew, but trying to explain it to her helped me realize that I don't know the difference. Thanks.<br clear="all">
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<br>-- <br>Marc F.<br><br>"..Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come.." -Rev1:4
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- <br>James P. Kinney III <br>