When I install a program manually from source or with a package manager from package the many files of the program are being distributed magically onto different folders. I do not know which folders, but I can guess, that maybe files containing manuals go into /usr/share/doc, it's binaries probably into /bin or /usr/bin or whatever else and a library maybe into /lib, /usr/lib or whatever.I wonder how many directories are involved in a bigger program which is distributed onto different directories?
Into which directories is software installed by default?
filesystems;software installation
Most of the *nix systems meet the needs of File System Hierarchy (FSH) standart.According to FSH, programs that you compile from source code should be placed in /opt directory. With another words, the place of the files that is not being provided by the package management system of your distro is /opt directory. But of course you can install dependent libraries form your distro's repo. Be sure to set the appropriate path for libraries during compile time.In addition, many of the open source projects create their own Makefile according to your system by running the configure script. In Makefile there is a Install section that defines the correct path for the binaries and libraries. I mean mostly you do not need to define any specific path for files.Only you need to run commands consecutively./configuremakemake install