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this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Not all. I've had apps install in opt, flatpaks install in var out of all places. Some apps install in /etc/share/applications
In
/etc? Are you sure?/usr/share/applicationshas your system-wide.desktopfiles, (while.local/share/applicationshas user-level ones, kinda analogous to installing a program toAppDataon Windows). And.desktopfiles could be interpreted at a high level as an "app", even though they're really just a simple description of how to advertise and launch an application from a GUI of some kind.OK, that was wrong. I meant usr/share/applications. Still, more than one place.
The actual executables shouldn't ever go in that folder though.
Typically packages installed through a package manager stick everything in their own folder in
/usr/lib(for libs) and/usr/share(for any other data). Then they either put their executables directly in/usr/binor symlink over to them.That last part is usually what results in things not living in a consistent place. A package might have something that qualifies as both an executable and a lib, so they store it in their lib folder, but symlink to it from bin. Or they might not have a lib folder, and just put everything in their share folder and symlink to it from bin.