Ubuntu – How to install programs into user directory without sudo

aptsoftware installationsoftware-centersudo

I mean how to install programs from repos into the user directory without sudo?

There are two ways (and even more) of installing software: from repos and from the software developer's website (tarball). First method requires one to have the superuser password. One must use sudo to perform a command like this apt-get install app_name. The second method is to download a tarball from the website, extract it, place the extracted files into the specified directory (or build it first), set up shortcuts. As you can see, the second method needs a user to have certain skills, but the first one needs only a knowledge of the superuser password.

The question is — how to combine these advantages: not to know the password (install software to home directory), not to be skilled (install in one click) and to use software only from repos.

Why it looks not so complicated for me: as an example let's look at SweetHome3D. This app is available both in repos and on the developer's website. When I download the tarball I just extract it, rename the folder to make it invisible and set up the shortcut (make it and then place it into ~/.local/share/applications). Or I can just do $ sudo apt-get install sweethome3d

Now let's try something different (not necessary like this):
Perform $ apt-get download sweethome3d. This command downloads .dep file.

Extract the contents. There are no difficulties of doing this.
… (here are some automatic actions to make the app prepared to launch)
PROFIT!

Any ideas?

Best Answer

The deb file that is downloaded and installed when you run apt-get install is basically a build of the source code with most options already set. This includes the location where it would be installed, probably /usr/some_folder.

This means you cannot change this location by using a deb file. The only way to do this is to get the source code, modify it and then install it.

Approximate equivalents of Windows install directories in Linux

\Windows = /bin
\Windows\System32 = /lib and /sbin
\Program Files = /usr/bin and /usr/lib

I would prefer to keep all my installed programs in one place so what is the right place for this in terms of best practice. In other words what is the Linux equivalent of C:\Program Files?

That would be the directories under /usr, specifically /usr/bin and /usr/lib.

And how does one always install at this location, is it just a matter of placing the tarball and running the install commands from this location?

No. Where you are when you run the install commands almost never matters.
Programs you install via apt-get (or aptitude) will almost always end up appropriately in /usr. BUT programs you compile from source and make install will more often end up in /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, etc, and you may have problems with that since the user-installed path in Debian/Ubuntu is /usr and not /usr/local.
When compiling from source, add this switch to configure: ./configure --prefix=/usr. This way when you make install the files will end up in the right directory
Also look into the checkinstall program, which keeps track of the files a package compiled from source installs, makes a deb file, and allows for easy uninstall/reinstall.

What about if I use sudo apt-get to install a package. How can I point to this location to tell apt-get to always install there?

apt-get/dpkg take care of this automatically. You can use dpkg -L name-of-package to see all the files installed by a package and where they were installed.

Ubuntu – Are ubuntu software center sources different from apt-get / synaptic

Some packages in the Software Center may be free but are offered under a proprietary license. For this reason (the license) they are not included by default in the Ubuntu apt repositories.

When you install one of these packages via the Software Center it will create a new apt source file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/. In the case of Master PDF Editor it will create:

private-ppa.launchpad.net_commercial-ppa-uploaders_master-pdf-editor_ubuntu.list

Once that file has been placed in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ you can then use the regular apt/aptitude commands to update it.

I also want to add that sources like this often require authentication. If they do a comment will be placed in the source file indicating as such:

$ cat private-ppa.launchpad.net_commercial-ppa-uploaders_master-pdf-editor_ubuntu.list 
deb https://private-ppa.launchpad.net/commercial-ppa-uploaders/master-pdf-editor/ubuntu precise main #Added by software-center; credentials stored in /etc/apt/auth.conf

At the end you can see the comment, "credentials stored in /etc/apt/auth.conf". That file will store a hash of your password like so:

$ sudo cat /etc/apt/auth.conf # Needs root to read the file
machine private-ppa.launchpad.net/commercial-ppa-uploaders/master-pdf-editor/ubuntu
login riskable
password someGobbldyGookHash

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Are ubuntu software center sources different from apt-get / synaptic

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