Applications for Linux come in a few varieties. You can install packages using the system package manager (apt
), install snap
packages, "install" (run) AppImage
applications, run installer scripts offered by a particular application, download and unzip application (and place them in an appropriate directory), or install from source. I'll discuss each installation method, where files should be written to, how (if) they should be symlinked, and how to integrate them into your desktop environment.
Applications are usually installed into one of the following places:
${HOME}/Applications
forAppImage
files. Then they are often integrated into your Desktop environment using [[#Create Desktop Icons for Applications|the instructions below]]./opt/
is for add-on application software packages (link). This means software applications you add to your system likeJulia
, `