this is probably a very dumb question.... when i download firefox and install it - it create a directory called firefox-installer in my home directory - great it runs but it doesnt put any short cut icons on the desktop etc. Also how do i make it available to other users?

if you installed it as root then just running "firefox" or "firefox-bin" as any user should let it load just fine.

Instead, I installed it as root in /usr/local/firefox so whenever some user wanted to run firefox they just ran /usr/local/firefox/firefox

If several users will use one program it's good to put it in /usr/ and not a home-dir (due to permissions). You may then use this path when creating a shortcut to your desktop (I use fluxbox so I cannot help you there).

/MezzyMeat

cool
thanks guys.


So i can just create a short cut to this manually? and all the users of this box ? I guess i should add the /usr/local/firefox it to some path for convinence?

Here's what I did :
Move firefox-installer to /usr/lib (I renamed it mozilla-firefox so the mplayer plugin would install properly)
Then using KDE:
right click on the task bar, choose add application button (non kde)
under path to executable type /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox choose an icon (kde has the firefox one already) You can drag and drop the icon to the screen if you don't want it on the taskbar, or use the KDE control center and follow a similar procedure to install the icon. Not familiar enough with Gnome to post about how to do it, but I'm sure the procedure is similar. Putting the directory in /usr/lib makes it available to all users.

I just installed it in /firefox

works for me
and yeah, you have to be root to do that, but not to run it

i dont really see how to assign a icon to it? I'm using redhat 9 btw

aha got it - thanks for all the help - very impressive!