Imac os 10.4.7: where is /usr/local ?

Hi,
I see a lot of installation instructions that say to install into /usr/local, but I don't have such a directory:
$ ls -al /usr
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 306 Feb 11 19:03 .
drwxrwxr-t 31 root admin 1156 Mar 12 16:20 ..
drwxr-xr-x 740 root wheel 25160 Feb 26 14:45 bin
drwxr-xr-x 230 root wheel 7820 Feb 11 19:04 include
drwxr-xr-x 273 root wheel 9282 Feb 11 19:25 lib
drwxr-xr-x 72 root wheel 2448 Feb 11 19:03 libexec
drwxr-xr-x 199 root wheel 6766 Feb 11 19:03 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 50 root wheel 1700 Feb 11 19:03 share
drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 Aug 10 2006 standalone
Is there another place I'm supposed to install programs? Or, do I need to create that directory?

It shouldn't really matter... especially considering that group doesn't have write access in either your case or my case.
Three machines I checked at work, which were built from clean 10.4 installs and hence didn't initially have a /usr/local, currently have have group ownership on their manually created /usr/local set to wheel just like yours. These machines at work have actually used /usr/local for much more stuff than my home machine so using wheel as the group should be fine (and maybe even more correct than admin).
Steve

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Usr/local/bin...or where?

hey guys,
I just made a package of sylpheed claws 2.00. Everything went ok, but the binary was placed in /usr/local/bin. For reasons I don't quite understand, this is not an arch-like place to be. So where should I put it, and how should I modify my pkgbuild to put it there?
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pkgname=sylpheed-claws
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also, what forum should I have posted this to?
thanks!

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Mysql, mysql account password, and /usr/local/mysql ownership

Hi all,
I am new to osX but familiar with Linux. I have a user 'mysql' and a group 'mysql'. I would like to make mysql the root user of the database but cannot figure out how to assign a password. I see the account in netInfo and there is an encrypted password, but no way to change it.
Depending on what you read, the directory /usr/local/mysql should belong to group mysql - I don't get the concept of 'wheel' yet.
I do have a regular user named 'meandmine' [not real]. Have /usr/local/mysql/bin in my path; I can start mysql okay. When I try to execute: mysqladmin -u root password 'password' I get an error: Access denied for user 'root'@'locahost'
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for anyone that follows this up:
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Simple script in /usr/local/bin just won't start - SOLVED

I put this really simple script for starting psi into my /usr/local/bin, set it a+xr and added /usr/local/bin to my path. However, I just can't start the damn thing.
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#!/bin/zsh/
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drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 240 Dec 10 18:55 ../
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And here's what happens when I try to execute it:
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zsh: command not found: psi.start
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EDIT: I had no idea where to put this, so I put it into Desktop Env since I'm trying to start a graphical app, but feel free to move it.
EDIT: Yea, I was being a little dense.

smoon wrote:Not sure if that's the problem, but try removing the trailing / (slash) from your script's shebang.
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Oy!
well, golly ...no, just wanna scribble something to make my gpg work for encryption. Need to get something started outside the program. Scfripting sounded nice since I didn't really want to do C++
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thanks for the patience

Error Message in Terminal: unknown variable 'datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data'

Hello,
I'm on a Mac Pro Quad Core Intel Xeon (64-bit) using OS 10.6.4. I have mysqlnd 5.0.5-dev - 081106 - $Revision: 289630 $ and PHP Version 5.3.1.
I have also installed phpMyAdmin 3.3.1 and have set up the relations tables in a pmadb within mysql; created a new database with tables; and created some new users. I am able to access and use mysql via phpMyAdmin.
But now I am unable to login to mysql via the Terminal command:
mysql -u root -p
which now returns an error message of:
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql: unknown variable 'datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data'
my.cnf file reads:
[mysqld]
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data
socket=/var/mysql/mysql.sock
#skip-grant-tables=1
[client]
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data
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My questions:
1. Is this related to anything I have done in setting up phpMyAdmin (tables, users)?
2. Is this a permissions problem with the directory named /usr/local/mysql/data?
Currently, the permissions and ownership are this:
drwxr-x--- 11 _mysql wheel 374 Jun 29 12:10 data
3. Is this a problem from upgrading to 10.6.4 recently?
4. Is this a my.cnf problem?
I would really like to be able to do things in the Terminal with mysql in addition to using phpMyAdmin.
Many thanks for any help on this.
Best,
Shelley

Shelley Schreiber wrote:
Thanks for your suggestion, etresoft, but this was not helpful, I'm afraid. Removing datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data did not work. And prior to using phpMyAdmin, I was able to login via Terminal with this in place.
Try removing my.cnf. It isn't required and seems to be giving you problems.
Also, the mysql socket value is what comes with new Macs with Snow Leopard.
MySQL doesn't come on any new Mac except with Snow Leopard Server. I think we've had this conversation before and came to the conclusion that you don't have the server version, just a jacked up client.
I am noticing that the Terminal error message I get is saying:
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql: unknown variable . . .
whereas the data directory path is /usr/local/mysql/data
There is no data directory in /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
The program that is reporting the error is is /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql.
My MySQL installation does not have a my.cnf file. It does have a number of example cnf files that I could use if I wanted to jack up my installation. None of them have a "datadir" value in them. If you don't want to get rid of my.cnf altogether, the just get rid of all of the datadir values inside it.

How to inherit /usr and make /usr/local read/write

Is there some way where I can make "/usr" a inherit-pkg-dir, and yet make "/usr/local" a read/write directory. I notice a lot of things I compile want to use "/usr/local" to write to, yet I don't want to remove the inherit for /usr, since a lot of packages go into that directory I would like inherited.
One work around I tried was to make a symbolic link in the global from "/usr/local" to /local" on the root, and then create a "/local" directory in the non-global zone. This still caused problems.
So is there any other work arounds or do I have to remove the inherit for "/usr" to make "/usr/local" writeable?

One work around I tried was to make a symbolic link
nk in the global from "/usr/local" to /local" on the
root, and then create a "/local" directory in the
non-global zone. This still caused problems.We've had success here using the workaround you mentioned.
We install all of our large software packages in /opt/<package-version>, and treat them as if they are read-only. There are a few exceptions to this -- there are some vendor supplied packages that can't be configured to write logs/configs/whatever outside of it's base directory. The packages supporting our in house software is called /opt/company.
When it comes to collections of small utilities (awk, fileutils, findutils, etc, etc) we pre-install as much stuff as makes sense with a prefix of /opt/local-<version>, and then distribute this to all of our machines (And subsequently treat it as read only). If we find we missed something that needs to go everywhere, we'll update the /opt/local-<version+1> and change the symlinks to /opt/local. If it's something that just needs to run on a couple machines we'll just make a new /opt/<package-version>.
In the global zone, we make a symlink for /opt/(read/write dir) to go to a /local/opt/. When /opt is mounted read-only on a zone, the symlinks within /opt point to whatever /local/ that is hosted local to the zone. So our /local directory might have /local/opt/company, /local/opt/inflexible-vendor-1.0.2, etc.
So far, we have half a dozen test zones created like this and haven't seen any problems. What kind of issues are you seeing when installing like this? (crossing fingers we haven't missed a Fatal Flaw :-))
-A

/usr/local missing

On my macbook, the folder /local doesn't seem to be there. Yesterday I did a fresh install of OS X, and now /usr/local is not there. I need it to create part of a toolchain for a project, so anyone know where it went, or if I could just create a directory called local?

Hi Kabren,
   I think the installer used to create such empty directories but maybe it doesn't now. Since they are empty, you can make them yourself. However, I would think that most of the installers that use that install root by default will create the directories for you. If you have an app that doesn't or just want to create the directories yourself, you could do it with a command like:
sudo mkdir /usr/local /usr/local/bin /usr/local/etc /usr/local/include /usr/local/info /usr/local/lib /usr/local/man /usr/local/sbin /usr/local/share /usr/local/share/man
Gary
~~~~
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   second.
         -- Steven Wright

OK to create /usr/local/bin?

Hi,
I tried today to install the command line utility for Growl, growlnotify. The installer script failed because it tried to install into /usr/local/bin which isn't there currently.
Now, is it OK to just go ahead and run "mkdir /usr/local/bin" to create the directory? I am not very experienced with Unix so I usually don't touch the unix directories so that I don't mess up anything...
Thanks!
Ingo

If you are the only or primary user of your computer, and you want to mess around, /usr/local is as good a place as any, since most software installs in it by default. Another option is to do stuff in your home directory.
If you have a dumb installer or Makefile that tries to install and possibly over-write files in say /usr/bin, you would be tipped off by install permission failure, whereas if you issued "sudo make install" you are at the mercy of whomever wrote the Makefile.
I actually build stuff in my home directory and install it into root-owned /usr/local, and the first time I issue "make -i install" I do it without write permissions and I can watch where it tries to put stuff. That is excessively paranoid. But its when you stop being paranoid.
Anyway, it doesn't much matter. For security reasons on a multiuser system, it is best to have multi-user accessed executables in root-owned directories.

GTKlxsplit's makefile wiped my /usr/local/bin/

Alright, right now I'm feeling stupid and raped. but hey! At least I have a funny story to tell
One trusts, that someone that can make a gtk front-end for a terminal application can also make a simple makefile.
It doesn't seem to be the case.
I have some .001 .002... files and since with cat we need to find, then sort, then cat it, I decided to try lxsplit and it's simple gtk gui
Well, no configure file... that's ok since the application seems to be really simple.
make is only one line and returns ok. The binary file on the current folder seems to work, so let's make install it! No error, only one line, that's ok for me... let's try running it.
gtk<tab>... nothing. gtklx<tab>... still nothing.
Let's see where make install put it:
# make install
cp -f gtklxsplit /usr/local/bin
Ok maybe /usr/local/bin isn't in $PATH... wait a minute, /usr/local/bin?!!!!
Ok, just great, now I have a bin file on /usr/local instead of a bin folder!
Ok, make uninstall then edit Makefile: /usr/local/bin to /usr/bin/
Now make and make install.
gtklx<tab>... gtklxsplit! nice program runs fine... join... select file... "join" -> Segmentation fault!
Ok, useless... make uninstall.
some seconds later... wtf: yao<tab>... nothing!
ls /usr/bin
ls: cannot access /usr/bin: No such file or directory
Ok, just won the lottery!
I just have to find a way to commemorate! I still have firefox, pidgin, xterm and pcmanfm running until I close them It's gonna be a hell of a party!
Last edited by VuDu (2008-08-27 23:25:23)

Well ... it CAN be set to anywhere you like, but compliance with the Arch Packaging Standards would be preferable - or mandatory, if you want to submit your PKGBUILD to the AUR. A quick read of the AUR User Guidelines would also be useful in that case.
General hints -
./configure --help
will give you all the options for most apps. The ABS wiki pages provide the Arch-specific stuff.

Explanation of usr/local/bin

I have see this path come up when I have installed PHP/MySQL etc on my machine but neve rundersttod what it means.
Is this the directory where programmes are installed by me that are not part of the OS, like Photoshop, PHP, MySQL, MS word etc?
How do I look for files on my Finder are they stored on my HD or in my user profile?

Andy,
To add to Michael and j.v.'s posts, /usr/local has been the traditional place to install 3rd party software ie. software not written by the company that made the OS. So, /usr/local/bin contained binary files, /usr/local/lib contained the library files, /usr/local/man contained the man pages, and so forth. If you look on old Sun's, IBM, HP and other machines dating to the early 90's, that's generally what you'll see. Not all system administrators, or workstation owners, followed the general design intentions of the UNIX file system however.
Now, binaries, libraries and man pages can be in a wide variety of places, depending upon the package installer's design. Fink will like to default to /sw, for example.
As for freeware, or shareware, a well-designed config file will allow you to specify paths for bin, lib and man directories. So, with a little planning, you can get MySQL, and other open source freeware, to install in a directory layout of your design.
I've always thought of "usr" to mean "User", as in the end User, versus the OS system itself. So /bin and /sbin were for binaries that were primarily used/called by other system routines, while /usr/bin and /usr/local/bin would contain binaries that User's may call/use. Doesn't mean you can't use stuff in /bin, nor that system administration stuff can't be in /usr/bin. I think of it only as a general guide to understanding why something is in a particular directory, not a hard and fast rule.
Good general references on the overall design of UNIX are "The Design of the UNIX Operating System" by Maurice Bach, and "The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System" by Marshall McKusick and George Neville-Neil.
Ed
PB G4 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

How do I navigate to /usr/local in the Finder?

I have a file in a folder beneath /usr/local that I want to be able to open in the Finder. However, there does not appear to be any way to navigate to this folder (or various other folders beneath /) in the Finder. What do I do?
If it makes any difference, I'm specifically trying to do File Open in Firefox. This brings up the Finder dialog box that I am unable to point to the file I want.
My workaround is to create a softlink to the file in my home directory. But this is a stupid hack. If the file is on my machine, Finder should be able to find it. That's why they call it Finder.
Thanks for your help.
Mac Mini Duo 1.66 GHz, 2 GB (10.4.6); MacBook (10.4.8)

For opening things from either Finder or an application you might consider this:
1. Do as biovizier suggests to go to the hidden parent folder
2. With /usr open in Finder hold down both the Option and Command keys and click and hold on the proxy icon at the top of folder's toolbar and drag to your Desktop
3. This will create an alias to the invisible folder which is visible in the Finder and application open and save dialog boxes
I made a folder called hidden and put aliases to bin, private, sbin and usr in it. I can easily get to the contents of all of them now.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Imac os 10.4.7: where is /usr/local ?

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