Installing TypingMaster into Games

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Sun, Mar 21, 2004 at 01:23:34PM -0500, Chris A Czerwinski wrote:
> On Sat, 2004-03-20 at 20:02, Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> > On Sat, Mar 20, 2004 at 10:31:32AM -0500, Chris A Czerwinski wrote:
> > > Thanks to Rick S. and Guy R. (what resources and follow-up)- 
> > > I've finally got the Java Virtual Machine LINKed properly.
> > > 
> > > Now - I want to install "TypingMaster" application into "Games" 
> > >   e.g. Main Menu -> Games -> More Games ... 
> > > so I don't have to install it twice for my kids 
> > >  (as each has their own logon - boy/girl).
> > > 
> > > I am getting confused between /usr/games and /usr/local/games.
> > > Does that mean there is one for Global and the other for who??
> > 
> > The convention, as I have seen it practiced in RedHat, is that
> > distribution stuff goes into /usr, and stuff you've added by building
> > and installing from a tarball goes into /usr/local.  If you get into
> > lots of partitioning, that's why I make /usr/local a separate
> > partition.  (That's another discussion.)
> > 
> > > So what would be the proper way of installing and into which
> > > directories? and Permissions? and Links?
> > > 
> > > When installing I'm being asked for two locations -
> > >   - Install in  ................. (Choose)            and
> > >   - Link Folder (Home) or ................. (Choose)
> > > 
> > > Note: When I install as SU - I have to be careful about Home because it
> > > may want to install in /root (I think?) and will they have access?
> > 
> > No, you don't want anything for general consumption put in /root.
> > 
> > > Thanks for any input.
> > > 
> > > Chris Cz (Newbie)
> > 
> > Well, philosophically, though it might be crafted to be "game-like", I
> > don't think I would put it in /usr/local/games.  That's a rather
> > obscure location.  And since it is external to the RedHat
> > installation, I'd put it in /usr/local/bin.  That is normally in
> > everybody's PATH, so nothing special needs to be done with that.
> > 
> > I don't understand what the "Link Folder (Home) or ..." is about.  If
> > you want a shortcut to that, I'd put it in the toolbar at the bottom,
> > or you could add a menu item for it.  I don't think I'd let the
> > installation program do any of that, because it probably doesn't know
> > how, and might well do something undesireable.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> 
> Red Hat's file hierarchy is little different from what I have found 
> on the following link to File System Hierarchy Standard at  
>       http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#USRLOCALSHARE1
> 
>  <snip...>
> Directory/Folder-> /usr/share : Architecture-independent data
> 
> Purpose: The /usr/share hierarchy is for all read-only architecture
> independent data files.
> 
> This hierarchy is intended to be shareable among all architecture
> platforms of a given OS; thus, for example, a site with i386, Alpha, and
> PPC platforms might maintain a single /usr/share directory that is
> centrally-mounted. Note, however, that /usr/share is generally not
> intended to be shared by different OSes or by different releases of the
> same OS.
> 
> Any program or package which contains or requires data that doesn't need
> to be modified should store that data in /usr/share (or
> /usr/local/share, if installed locally). It is recommended that a
> subdirectory be used in /usr/share for this purpose.
> 
> Game data stored in /usr/share/games must be purely static data. Any
> modifiable files, such as score files, game play logs, and so forth,
> should be placed in /var/games.
>  <...end of snip>
> 
> What I gather is then  Game Applications can be installed in:
>                      FHS's  /usr/share/<game-name>   
>  & equivalent to Red Hat's  /usr/share/<game-name>  

No.  Read again the first line of your quote.  It is for fixed _data_,
not executables.  Hats off to you, by the way, for looking up the FHS.
So /usr/share/<game-name> would be appropriate for putting things like
TypingMaster's word lists and the like.

> and Game Data/Scores are to be stored in /var "... variable data files":
>                      FHS's  /var/games/<game-name>   
>  & equivalent to Red Hat's  /usr/games/<game-name>
>                         or  /usr/local/share/<game-name>
>   or Create in Red Hat a    /var/games/<game-name> (to conform with FHS)

I'm unclear what you are saying there.  Yes, scores and the like would
go into /var/games/, but the appropriate place for the executable
would be in /usr/games/ or /usr/local/bin/.

> Chris Cz (Newbie)

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net  http://www.bobcatos.com
God loves you whether you like it or not,
  but he won't kidnap you to heaven.