Newbie questions

[Mac]

On Wed, 12 Jan 2000, Burt Humburg wrote:

> Hi everyone. After much delay, I finally installed Linux on my Win98
> box. Since then, I've login'ed, ls'ed, and su'ed more times than I
> care to think about. I've started to install software, but I have a
> few questions about where things need to go...
> 

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of Linux!

> First question: When I install software in Win98, the GUI is stupid.
> So, to help it out, it updates the registry--such that if I later
> delete files without using the add/remove programs thing in
> "Settings", my computer might throw a fit. Is there any similar
> registry for Linux? Am I okay to simply rm -rf (or whatever recursive
> delete with subfolders is) the folder I mistakenly installed to if I
> want to reinstall?
> 

There are different ways of keeping track of what you install and
uninstall, the most popular of which are packaging systems..  There are
two major packaging systems, Redhat Packaging System or rpm and Debians
(not sure what the official name is i.e. I don't use debian much) or
dselect.  So, figure out which one is on the distribution you uinstalled
and check with the man file on that system. (Last time I checked,
Slackware was the only system that did not have a packaging system)  The
alternative to packaging systems is compiling all of your programs from
source (my personal favorite).  In this case, you are usually using the
Makefile in the source of the program to put all the right files in all
the right places, so you would want to become familiar with the
"make" command.

> Second question: Back in the old MS-DOS days, anytime you put some
> utility on your computer, you had to alter your PATH= line in
> autoexec.bat to get the computer to look in alternate directories for
> files. Linux has something similar. However, I'm wondering if there is
> a slick way of organizing structure in Linux. Something like a soft
> reference in /bin to some directory wherein you put all other soft
> references (maybe /opt/paths) such that anything you put in there will
> be checked when a program is requested to run.
> 
> On that note, is there a common place to install applicatons so all
> users can use them? I hestitate to install stuff in /home/bhumburg
> because it seems to me that only I will be able to use applications.
> Basically, could someone step me through how I should organize my file
> hierarchy.
> 

Linux does use the systems $PATH variable to look for executable
programs.  Different types of programs are placed in different types of
directories and some of it very much depends on what distribution you are
using.  The rules below are made up in part from where the system
initially installs files, where most packages install files, and my own
personal preference.

Normal File Hierarchy (may vary with distribution):

User programs should go:

/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/local/bin

Personal programs/scripts should go:

$HOME/bin

Root Admin programs should go:

/sbin
/usr/sbin
/usr/local/sbin

X apps should go:

/usr/X11R6/bin

Source files should go:

/usr/src

> Finally, I'm trying to setup a Java development environment. I've
> d/l'ed the files from blackdown.org, but they are vague in how to
> setup the soft references such that "java" is available anywhere. Do I
> reference /jdk/bin or what?
> 

I haven't used the java development kit, but what it sounds like you need
to do is find out where it put its executable files and add that to your
path (most likely by editing your .profile)

> I think that's enough to start with. Anyone have any suggestions for
> online auctions where I could get a good non-Winmodem modem that's
> decently fast but also cheap?
> 

I hate all types of modems (ethernet all the way, baby) but
http://www.thelinuxstore.com/ sells hardware that is known to work under
Linux.  I just glanced there and it looks like they have 56k modems for
approx. $50.

I hope those answers helped.

Mac Wisler
mac at grapevine.net