Can I use a command (such as “tree”) without installing it system wide?

Question

I'm connected to a Linux box through SSH on which I don't have administrative privileges. The command I wish to use is called tree, but it isn't installed.

Is there any way I can load the tree program into my home directory and run it without the need to install it system wide?

Answer 1

tree doesn't seem to have particular dependencies (libc6) so I guess you can simply copy the executable (located in which tree on another system with tree installed or alternatively you can compile it from source, here's the home page of the project) in a directory on the Linux box which you're connected, say ~/bin/, then you just need to update your $PATH environment variable to add that directory.

If you're using Bash put this in your ~/.bashrc:

PATH=$PATH:~/bin/

Note: Be sure to match architecture and OS.

Answer 2

You would usually build and install it on the prefix $HOME. That means the binary would go into $HOME/bin, libraries into $HOME/lib and so on. Then you insure that these directories appear on $PATH, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH, $MAN_PATH, etc (usualy by editting your shell startup files) and it will work transparently.

Here's a recipe that will work with many programs

$ cd $HOME
$ mkdir src
$ cd src
$ wget http://host.name/path/to/program.tgz
$ tar xzfv program.tgz
$ cd program
$ ./configure --PREFIX=$HOME
$ make
$ make install

Note that unlike installing on /usr/local there is never any need for root privilege.