A "standard" download directory & executable s

[kiwiguy]

Hi all -

I have a couple of ideas that may well be best put to the Linux Standard Base site, but I thouight I'd post them here anyway, (as Knoppix is _the_ most user-friendly distro, and I want Knoppix to get any new ideas first ...
( I should mention that these ideas are more for others than myself - I'm not a total Linux newbie, but I believe I have a good feel for the kind of things that newbies find difficult / puzzling .... )

Idea 1 - A directory (let's call it /install or maybe dl_install , for download_install) that is *the* one *standard* place that you should download files to , and then run the install from. There seems to be no docs anywhere that specify *which directory* you should d/l to ..... you're just expected to somehow "know". ( Some _apps_ do specify the dir to d/l to, but there seems to be no general docs in this area ).
As an alternative to implementing a standard d/l directory, at least I'd suggest a brief entry in a FAQ, something like

( start of FAQ - replace "X" with an actual directory )
Q. I want to download some software. Which directory should I download it to?
A. You should always download to the "X" directory. Then, you should run the install from that directory as well. Most installs involve typing the following commands at the command prompt -
./configure
make
make install
( end of FAQ )

This may sound like a small, trivial thing, but implementing the dir (or the FAQ) would be **easy** to do, and would be a very nice little distinguishing feature to have. Ok - yes you can create the dir yourself, but it _still_ wouldn't be the "standard" place for the _distro_.
Yes, there are utils like apt-get , that do everything automatically. But - if you do need to do a manual install (for whatever reason), a standard "download_install directory could still be useful.

Idea 2 - A standard suffix for executable files ( I'd suggest "lexe", for linux exe). This would also surely be easy to implement. Yes, ok - there are the /bin and /sbin directories, but there is still no guarantee that all files there are executable. Wouldn't it be *great* (and useful) to be able to find ALL executable files on your system ( _whereever_ they are ) with a *simple* command like -
grep -l *.lexe

Again, this would be trivial to implement, and very useful to make things even more user-friendly. At the very least, you could be given the *option* (at install time) of giving all executable files the .lexe suffix.

Ah, well ... that'll do for now . Comments welcome! ( Time to put on the ol' asbestos suit ..... )

[kiwiguy]

Arrrgh ... replying to my own post. Anyway -
I've just realised (as soon as I did my previous post ) that newbies would probably not know to use the grep command to find executable files. So, I'm suggesting a FAQ entry, like the following -
(NOTE - this FAQ is specifically aimed at finding *executable* files - not just any files. The FAQ assumes that there is a standard in place (either for Knoppix, or for all distros) that all executable files have the ".lexe" suffix )

( start of FAQ )
Q - I want to find all the executable files on my system ( or in directory "X" ). How do I do this?
A - There are several ways of doing this. They are as follows
Option 1 - In the directory that you want to search for executable files , type the following command at the shell prompt -
grep -l *.lexe
Option 2 - ( another option here )
Option 3 - ( another option here)
( end of FAQ )

Apologies for replying to my own post ....

[garyng]

The standard place for user installed application(not the debian way though) is /usr/local

try 'man find' for how to search for 'executables' in the system and giving 'extension'(that is a window/dos concept) to linux executables will break a lot of things. If you give the programs .lexe extension, you have to run it as 'myprogram.lexe', cumbersome.

[kiwiguy]

The standard place for user installed application(not the debian way though) is /usr/local

try 'man find' for how to search for 'executables' in the system and giving 'extension'(that is a window/dos concept) to linux executables will break a lot of things. If you give the programs .lexe extension, you have to run it as 'myprogram.lexe', cumbersome.

Hi , Garyng - Thanks for your comments! I now have to agree with you (after
having just been for a run, and during it, concluding that my post was a "I should have engaged brain before putting mouse into gear" moment ) . Arrgh ... !