[mythtv-users] What does make install actually do

[R. Geoffrey Newbury]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 21:58:20 +1000, Phill Edwards wrote:

>>
>> I've noticed that make install puts the binaries into /usr/local/,
>> whereas the rpm binaries are currently in /usr/local/bin, so am I
>> correct in thinking that nothing would get overwritten and I manually
>> move files or adjust the order of the path to enable the compiled
>> versions?
>
>I think there's a file called settings.pro (from memory) which lets
>you override the target dir for install so you could use that to get
>make install to install to the current location. I don't know what the
>consequences of having simultaneous RPM and CVS installs, but it
>sounds like the sort of thing that could turn ugly.

Better to use the --prefix=DIR  setting in configure before 'make'ing the
compile.

Either run ./configure --help or open it in an editor to see all of the
available switches and their defaults.
'prefix' is usually set to /usr/local which means that the binaries will
end up in /usr/local/bin and the libs in /usr/local/lib etc.

Using --prefix=/usr will move everything 'up' one level.
If you install a new version into /usr and the old is in /usr/local then
which one gets called would depend upon the ordering of your $PATH
variable. Given the nature of linux, I suspect however, that each version,
if called directly would run quite happily because each would look for its
own libraries in its own path (ie: the old one would always look in
/usr/local/lib while the new one would only look to /usr/lib) This would
be fine until they start looking at the same database... and possibly
using different schemas.

Unless you wish to live dangerously, it would be best practice to rpm -e
the original version before 'make install' of the new *if they are going
into different places. If the same, then the new will over-write the old.

Geoff



R. Geoffrey Newbury                          newbury at mandamus.org
Barrister and Solicitor                         Telephone: 905-271-9600                 
Mississauga,Ontario, Canada              Facsimile:   905-271-1638