'Best Practices' for downloads ??

[Brian Porter]

William Case wrote:
> Hi;
>
> I have been using Red Hat and then Fedora for over 3 years.  I am
> comfortable with installing *.tar.gz (configure, make and make install),
> rpm packages and yum packages.
>
> But I have to admit that my installation directory locations have been
> haphazard up to now.  I would like to establish for myself some
> installation good practises. 
>
> I have a /downloads directory to which all downloads are directed.
>
> My root path is: 
> /usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/sbin:
> /usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin
>
> My user path is: 
> /usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:
> /usr/X11R6/bin:/home/bill/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/sbin:
> /home/bill/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts:
>
> I have a two machine home LAN
>
> How do the 'pros' go about organizing their application downloads and
> installation.
> For example, for downloaded rpm and *.tar.gz files I create a new
> folder  /downloads/newapp and move the downloaded file there. I want to
> keep an original copy of the download.
> When I use the Archive Manager, where is the best place to put the
> opened package?
> /downloads/newapp; /tmp; /usr/local, What?
> Then when I install, where is the best place to install /usr/share
> or /usr/local or /usr/local/share or whatever.
>
> How about Fedora extra installs?  Under Fedora 7 there will no longer be
> an extras repository, but from my (as a user) perspective there will be
> some applications that I may want to just try out etc. and not
> necessarily make part of my main system.  How will ( or do I need to)
> separate out their installation?
>
> Is there other considerations, I haven't thought of?
>
> As I say, up to now it has been kind of a random system ( pardon the
> oxymoron ).  I would like to regularize my new installations in a manner
> that others have found appropriate and/or convenient.
>
>
> All suggestions gratefully received.
>
>   
I found myself in a similar situation.. From what I understand, Fedora 
Core 6 supports the File System Hierarchy Standard v2.3

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/


-- 
-Brian
brian at miatar.org