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I know that the comment is not liked by everyone, but I still think it is somewhat true: "It doesn't matter whether the program is installed into /usr/bin/, /usr/share/bin/, /bin/ or anything else", at least not for the "average user". Linux puts all of those into a PATH-variable (if you'd like to see what it holds, type "echo $PATH" without the quotes into a terminal). Because of that, you really never have to give an absolute path to an executable (unless you installed it by hand after compiling, something that the fabled "average user" hardly does). Furthermore, since you usually install Programs via the Package Manager (Software Center in Ubuntu?), it gets deleted properly if you uninstall it. Instead, if you type for example "firefox" into a terminal, it looks through all the paths listed in the PATH-variable until it finds the executable called "firefox", then executes it. Configuration files for individual programs usually reside in your /home folder, much like Windows' "Documents & Settings", only ideally on a different partition separate from the OS. The only thing you really need as an everyday user is your own /home folder, and as far as I know, that is basically chosen by default for pretty much everything. This is not so much Ubuntu specific, rather just trying to explain a bit to the parent about the "Program Files" analogue. [edited for clarity regarding the function of $PATH] |