really newbie Question?Installation a program on knoppix?

[rayesteq]

Hi there I wanna ask u smthing : can I install a VCL player without install the Knoppix to HDD ...I mean while knoppix is workin' with cd-room can I install a program?Moreover can Mozilla use this programs plug in?
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question?


Rayesteq

[user unknown]

It's by no means a stupid question. (But allways try to omit useless noise in topics, like 'newbie, question, please help' - that's stupid. About 95% of posts need help and have questions.)

The small answer is: "yes but no".

The long answer:
There are 3 problems I'm seeing:

a) Filepermissions:
If you install to a windows-partition (vfat, ntfs), they don't use the user-group-other rwx distinction, which might cause problems.
But you didn't tell us, that you're going to install it on a windows-partition - so you may install it to a ext3, reiserfs, xfs, whatever-filesystem.

b) Installation-procedure:
I'm mostly installing from tarballs, with 'configure, make, make install'. If you install from deb or rpm you have to read the manpages or find another anwerer.
My way would need me to specify a different install-dir:

configure --install-prefix=/mnt/mypartition/usr/local

c) Find the application on runtime:
If you boot from cd, without config-files from hd or usb-drive, the application isn't found by default, especially not if it is a plugin for mozilla.
You would have to write a small script, to have it found, or tell the browser every time, from where to take the plugin.

Note that this is only a sample:

mount /dev/hda4 /mnt/mypartition
export PATH=$PATH:/mnt/mypartition/usr/local/bin

All in all: If you use knoppix regulary, a hd-install gives many benefits. Buying an extra harddrive should be thought of.

Throwing away every windows partition is an alternative

[tjacobs]

If you don't want to install to the hard drive, you can install to any persistent directory that has enough room. Personally, I favor USB pen drives mounted as a persistent home for this sort of thing so that I can port things around with me.

The previous poster's example of how to set the configure prefix is excellent. Keep in mind, though, that not every application will compile cleanly on Knoppix, although my luck so far has been excellent in that regard.

[mrnull]

Yeah, I think I'm in the need to buy another HD boat as well.

I've had no problem installing some applications (epic works wonderfully with the configure option) but others have been extremely troublesome. It seems the only safe way to install a new program is through kilk, which as of yet doesn't have a humungous library.

I'm new to linux as well, and the problem seems to be this: many programs need to install themselves to directories stored on the CD (read-only.) Although there's a workaround, they may not survive the reboot. Core files such as libraries are also found on the CD. There's no easy way to update or add to these libraries, and sometimes you need them to help compile.

Anyone got some good websites for HDs?