[mythtv-users] What does make install actually do

[Michael T. Dean]

David Watkins wrote:

>I've compiled a few frontends from source, but my backend (18.1) was
>built using rpms.
>
>I'd now like to compile mythtv for the backend.  I'm reasonably
>comfortable with doing the build, and I've read the upgradetoCVShowto
>(although I'll be using the 18.1 tarball), but I'm still a bit unclear
>on the best way to install the files, without breaking anything that
>I've already got.
>  
>
I'll leave this one alone.  Package managers and manual installs seem 
like water and oil to me...

>I've noticed that make install puts the binaries into /usr/local/,
>whereas the rpm binaries are currently in /usr/local/bin, so am I
>correct in thinking that nothing would get overwritten and I manually
>move files or adjust the order of the path to enable the compiled
>versions?
>  
>
Actually, /usr/local is the installation prefix.  That prefix is used as 
a base directory to which all files are installed in their appropriate 
subdirectory.  Therefore, the binaries will be in /usr/local/bin, the 
libraries in /usr/local/lib, the shared data in /usr/local/share, etc.

>What about other files ( libs, configs, scripts?, stuff in
>~mythtv/.mythtv/ etc).  Does any of that get overwritten.
>  
>
Configuration is stored in the database, and, therefore, not affected by 
the install.  Scripts--like mythlink.sh and myth.rebuilddatabase.pl--are 
typically "contributed" code that's not part of the official install, so 
it is not installed (but you could manually copy them to /usr/local/bin 
or wherever).  Your ~/.mythtv won't be affected.

>Lots of people must have done this - what are the gotchas?
>  
>
Remember that I haven't said /anything/ about the package manager/manual 
install issue...  I don't want you to think I'm saying to just install 
over the RPM.  You'll have to get that info from someone who's more of 
an RPM expert than me (=anyone in the entire world).  :)

Mike