[ale] /USR vs. /USR/LOCAL

[Jeff Lightner]

Of course these are "general" guidelines as mentioned by others.

 

It isn't really unusual to see "distribution" files in /usr/local or
"add on" files in /usr.   Also some things put themselves in odd
locations by default.   It depends a lot on who bundled it and their
reasoning.

 

Firefox for example puts itself in /usr/lib/firefox when you download
and install it.   To access its binary from /usr/bin you typically have
to create a link back to the one under the /usr/lib/firefox directory.
However, most distributions come with a firefox binary in /usr/bin -
this is why people get confused when they "upgrade" firefox - they are
still accessing the distribution version rather than the "upgraded"
version.

 

In UNIX it gets even more fun because they have /opt on SVR4 based
versions which was supposed to take the place of much of what went into
/usr before (though one still has to have /usr as well).

 

________________________________

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim
Kinney
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:01 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] /USR vs. /USR/LOCAL

 

In general, stuff that ships with or is provided by the distribution
goes in /usr whereas stuff you compile yourself goes in /usr/local.

/usr/local even has i's own etc and you can put local-brewed start up
scripts and configs there.

For nearly all current systems, the path will have /usr/local BEFORE
/usr so your compiled stuff will get found first.

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.

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.

2008/5/29 Marc Ferguson <mferguson at digitalalias.net>:

Hi,

What is the difference between /usr and /usr/local?

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.

-- 
Marc F.

"..Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to
come.." -Rev1:4 
_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale




-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
----------------------------------
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail may contain privileged or confidential information and is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please reply immediately to the sender that you have received the message in error, and delete it. Thank you.
----------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20080530/1c74daff/attachment.html