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(make.info.gz) Directory Variables

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 14.4 Variables for Installation Directories
 ===========================================
 
 Installation directories should always be named by variables, so it is
 easy to install in a nonstandard place.  The standard names for these
 variables and the values they should have in GNU packages are described
 below.  They are based on a standard filesystem layout; variants of it
 are used in GNU/Linux and other modern operating systems.
 
    Installers are expected to override these values when calling `make'
 (e.g., `make prefix=/usr install' or `configure' (e.g., `configure
 --prefix=/usr').  GNU packages should not try to guess which value
 should be appropriate for these variables on the system they are being
 installed onto: use the default settings specified here so that all GNU
 packages behave identically, allowing the installer to achieve any
 desired layout.
 
    These two variables set the root for the installation.  All the other
 installation directories should be subdirectories of one of these two,
 and nothing should be directly installed into these two directories.
 
 `prefix'
      A prefix used in constructing the default values of the variables
      listed below.  The default value of `prefix' should be
      `/usr/local'.  When building the complete GNU system, the prefix
      will be empty and `/usr' will be a symbolic link to `/'.  (If you
      are using Autoconf, write it as `@prefix@'.)
 
      Running `make install' with a different value of `prefix' from the
      one used to build the program should _not_ recompile the program.
 
 `exec_prefix'
      A prefix used in constructing the default values of some of the
      variables listed below.  The default value of `exec_prefix' should
      be `$(prefix)'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
      `@exec_prefix@'.)
 
      Generally, `$(exec_prefix)' is used for directories that contain
      machine-specific files (such as executables and subroutine
      libraries), while `$(prefix)' is used directly for other
      directories.
 
      Running `make install' with a different value of `exec_prefix'
      from the one used to build the program should _not_ recompile the
      program.
 
    Executable programs are installed in one of the following
 directories.
 
 `bindir'
      The directory for installing executable programs that users can
      run.  This should normally be `/usr/local/bin', but write it as
      `$(exec_prefix)/bin'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
      `@bindir@'.)
 
 `sbindir'
      The directory for installing executable programs that can be run
      from the shell, but are only generally useful to system
      administrators.  This should normally be `/usr/local/sbin', but
      write it as `$(exec_prefix)/sbin'.  (If you are using Autoconf,
      write it as `@sbindir@'.)
 
 `libexecdir'
      The directory for installing executable programs to be run by other
      programs rather than by users.  This directory should normally be
      `/usr/local/libexec', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/libexec'.
      (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@libexecdir@'.)
 
      The definition of `libexecdir' is the same for all packages, so
      you should install your data in a subdirectory thereof.  Most
      packages install their data under `$(libexecdir)/PACKAGE-NAME/',
      possibly within additional subdirectories thereof, such as
      `$(libexecdir)/PACKAGE-NAME/MACHINE/VERSION'.
 
    Data files used by the program during its execution are divided into
 categories in two ways.
 
    * Some files are normally modified by programs; others are never
      normally modified (though users may edit some of these).
 
    * Some files are architecture-independent and can be shared by all
      machines at a site; some are architecture-dependent and can be
      shared only by machines of the same kind and operating system;
      others may never be shared between two machines.
 
    This makes for six different possibilities.  However, we want to
 discourage the use of architecture-dependent files, aside from object
 files and libraries.  It is much cleaner to make other data files
 architecture-independent, and it is generally not hard.
 
    Here are the variables Makefiles should use to specify directories
 to put these various kinds of files in:
 
 `datarootdir'
      The root of the directory tree for read-only
      architecture-independent data files.  This should normally be
      `/usr/local/share', but write it as `$(prefix)/share'.  (If you
      are using Autoconf, write it as `@datarootdir@'.)  `datadir''s
      default value is based on this variable; so are `infodir',
      `mandir', and others.
 
 `datadir'
      The directory for installing idiosyncratic read-only
      architecture-independent data files for this program.  This is
      usually the same place as `datarootdir', but we use the two
      separate variables so that you can move these program-specific
      files without altering the location for Info files, man pages, etc.
 
      This should normally be `/usr/local/share', but write it as
      `$(datarootdir)'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
      `@datadir@'.)
 
      The definition of `datadir' is the same for all packages, so you
      should install your data in a subdirectory thereof.  Most packages
      install their data under `$(datadir)/PACKAGE-NAME/'.
 
 `sysconfdir'
      The directory for installing read-only data files that pertain to a
      single machine-that is to say, files for configuring a host.
      Mailer and network configuration files, `/etc/passwd', and so
      forth belong here.  All the files in this directory should be
      ordinary ASCII text files.  This directory should normally be
      `/usr/local/etc', but write it as `$(prefix)/etc'.  (If you are
      using Autoconf, write it as `@sysconfdir@'.)
 
      Do not install executables here in this directory (they probably
      belong in `$(libexecdir)' or `$(sbindir)').  Also do not install
      files that are modified in the normal course of their use (programs
      whose purpose is to change the configuration of the system
      excluded).  Those probably belong in `$(localstatedir)'.
 
 `sharedstatedir'
      The directory for installing architecture-independent data files
      which the programs modify while they run.  This should normally be
      `/usr/local/com', but write it as `$(prefix)/com'.  (If you are
      using Autoconf, write it as `@sharedstatedir@'.)
 
 `localstatedir'
      The directory for installing data files which the programs modify
      while they run, and that pertain to one specific machine.  Users
      should never need to modify files in this directory to configure
      the package's operation; put such configuration information in
      separate files that go in `$(datadir)' or `$(sysconfdir)'.
      `$(localstatedir)' should normally be `/usr/local/var', but write
      it as `$(prefix)/var'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
      `@localstatedir@'.)
 
    These variables specify the directory for installing certain specific
 types of files, if your program has them.  Every GNU package should
 have Info files, so every program needs `infodir', but not all need
 `libdir' or `lispdir'.
 
 `includedir'
      The directory for installing header files to be included by user
      programs with the C `#include' preprocessor directive.  This
      should normally be `/usr/local/include', but write it as
      `$(prefix)/include'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
      `@includedir@'.)
 
      Most compilers other than GCC do not look for header files in
      directory `/usr/local/include'.  So installing the header files
      this way is only useful with GCC.  Sometimes this is not a problem
      because some libraries are only really intended to work with GCC.
      But some libraries are intended to work with other compilers.
      They should install their header files in two places, one
      specified by `includedir' and one specified by `oldincludedir'.
 
 `oldincludedir'
      The directory for installing `#include' header files for use with
      compilers other than GCC.  This should normally be `/usr/include'.
      (If you are using Autoconf, you can write it as `@oldincludedir@'.)
 
      The Makefile commands should check whether the value of
      `oldincludedir' is empty.  If it is, they should not try to use
      it; they should cancel the second installation of the header files.
 
      A package should not replace an existing header in this directory
      unless the header came from the same package.  Thus, if your Foo
      package provides a header file `foo.h', then it should install the
      header file in the `oldincludedir' directory if either (1) there
      is no `foo.h' there or (2) the `foo.h' that exists came from the
      Foo package.
 
      To tell whether `foo.h' came from the Foo package, put a magic
      string in the file--part of a comment--and `grep' for that string.
 
 `docdir'
      The directory for installing documentation files (other than Info)
      for this package.  By default, it should be
      `/usr/local/share/doc/YOURPKG', but it should be written as
      `$(datarootdir)/doc/YOURPKG'.  (If you are using Autoconf, write
      it as `@docdir@'.)  The YOURPKG subdirectory, which may include a
      version number, prevents collisions among files with common names,
      such as `README'.
 
 `infodir'
      The directory for installing the Info files for this package.  By
      default, it should be `/usr/local/share/info', but it should be
      written as `$(datarootdir)/info'.  (If you are using Autoconf,
      write it as `@infodir@'.)  `infodir' is separate from `docdir' for
      compatibility with existing practice.
 
 `htmldir'
 `dvidir'
 `pdfdir'
 `psdir'
      Directories for installing documentation files in the particular
      format.  (It is not required to support documentation in all these
      formats.)  They should all be set to `$(docdir)' by default.  (If
      you are using Autoconf, write them as `@htmldir@', `@dvidir@',
      etc.)  Packages which supply several translations of their
      documentation should install them in `$(htmldir)/'LL,
      `$(pdfdir)/'LL, etc. where LL is a locale abbreviation such as
      `en' or `pt_BR'.
 
 `libdir'
      The directory for object files and libraries of object code.  Do
      not install executables here, they probably ought to go in
      `$(libexecdir)' instead.  The value of `libdir' should normally be
      `/usr/local/lib', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/lib'.  (If you
      are using Autoconf, write it as `@libdir@'.)
 
 `lispdir'
      The directory for installing any Emacs Lisp files in this package.
      By default, it should be `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', but
      it should be written as `$(datarootdir)/emacs/site-lisp'.
 
      If you are using Autoconf, write the default as `@lispdir@'.  In
      order to make `@lispdir@' work, you need the following lines in
      your `configure.in' file:
 
           lispdir='${datarootdir}/emacs/site-lisp'
           AC_SUBST(lispdir)
 
 `localedir'
      The directory for installing locale-specific message catalogs for
      this package.  By default, it should be `/usr/local/share/locale',
      but it should be written as `$(datarootdir)/locale'.  (If you are
      using Autoconf, write it as `@localedir@'.)  This directory
      usually has a subdirectory per locale.
 
    Unix-style man pages are installed in one of the following:
 
 `mandir'
      The top-level directory for installing the man pages (if any) for
      this package.  It will normally be `/usr/local/share/man', but you
      should write it as `$(datarootdir)/man'.  (If you are using
      Autoconf, write it as `@mandir@'.)
 
 `man1dir'
      The directory for installing section 1 man pages.  Write it as
      `$(mandir)/man1'.
 
 `man2dir'
      The directory for installing section 2 man pages.  Write it as
      `$(mandir)/man2'
 
 `...'
      *Don't make the primary documentation for any GNU software be a
      man page.  Write a manual in Texinfo instead.  Man pages are just
      for the sake of people running GNU software on Unix, which is a
      secondary application only.*
 
 `manext'
      The file name extension for the installed man page.  This should
      contain a period followed by the appropriate digit; it should
      normally be `.1'.
 
 `man1ext'
      The file name extension for installed section 1 man pages.
 
 `man2ext'
      The file name extension for installed section 2 man pages.
 
 `...'
      Use these names instead of `manext' if the package needs to
      install man pages in more than one section of the manual.
 
    And finally, you should set the following variable:
 
 `srcdir'
      The directory for the sources being compiled.  The value of this
      variable is normally inserted by the `configure' shell script.
      (If you are using Autconf, use `srcdir = @srcdir@'.)
 
    For example:
 
      # Common prefix for installation directories.
      # NOTE: This directory must exist when you start the install.
      prefix = /usr/local
      datarootdir = $(prefix)/share
      datadir = $(datarootdir)
      exec_prefix = $(prefix)
      # Where to put the executable for the command `gcc'.
      bindir = $(exec_prefix)/bin
      # Where to put the directories used by the compiler.
      libexecdir = $(exec_prefix)/libexec
      # Where to put the Info files.
      infodir = $(datarootdir)/info
 
    If your program installs a large number of files into one of the
 standard user-specified directories, it might be useful to group them
 into a subdirectory particular to that program.  If you do this, you
 should write the `install' rule to create these subdirectories.
 
    Do not expect the user to include the subdirectory name in the value
 of any of the variables listed above.  The idea of having a uniform set
 of variable names for installation directories is to enable the user to
 specify the exact same values for several different GNU packages.  In
 order for this to be useful, all the packages must be designed so that
 they will work sensibly when the user does so.
 
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