I mean not just the binary, but its libraries, config files and data (strictly speaking all files). Also when I download a package where is it best to extract it. If I move these files will the app be corrupted?
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7On non-mobile OSes, "app"s are called either programs or applications. I personally hate that word already..– BoraMay 16, 2011 at 20:19
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1That was a really good question btw, Tichomir.– BlomkvistMay 16, 2011 at 20:22
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3@Bora: "app" is just shortened form of "application", and was in use way before the smartphone craze.– u1686_grawityMay 16, 2011 at 22:05
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1@grawity: I'd like to see your source, primarily to deepen my hate in its history.– BoraMay 17, 2011 at 6:10
2 Answers
Most programs follow the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (
man hier
): libraries go to/usr/lib
, configuration files to/etc
, static data to/usr/share
, and so on.Some self-contained programs put all data in
/opt/<program>/
..deb
/.rpm
packages are not supposed to be unpacked manually – they should be handled by the apropriate program,dpkg
orrpm
.If you have only the source code in a tarball, you must extract it to a temporary location (somewhere to
/tmp
or$HOME
). The rest, including installation is usually handled by the Makefile (by runningmake install
); see FHS above.
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2Note that FHS version 3 is currently in progress, and the layout may change somewhat. May 16, 2011 at 20:18
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And indeed, once you have used the
.deb
or.rpm
file, it is no longer needed. If I download a random.deb
file, I usually download it to/tmp
, or my home directory if I may need it again on a different box. Whenapt
downloads a package, it is stored in/var/cache/apt
from where it will eventually be cleaned out.– tripleeeAug 16, 2012 at 3:52