Installing Applications in Custom Locations

The modules package depends upon having each version of each application installed in a separate directory. Though this may sound daunting, it is surprisingly easy to accomplish.

Much of the available open source software is managed under the GNU autoconf system. The autoconf configure command accepts a --prefix= flag that can be used to set the top of the tree that the software will install into, so a command like configure --prefix=/depot/emacs/xemacs-21.4.13 will do the right thing for modules.

Likewise, many public domain and commercial apps are installed by makefiles or shell scripts that can be modified to place the software in a unique directory. In many cases, a flag is provided for targeting the install to a non-default location (for instance the -r flag in IRIX's inst/swmgr package management system).

As a last resort, a strategically placed symlink can often be used to re-direct the software to another location (for example, Alias|Wavefront packages will go wherever /usr/aw points them).