You should google for Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) and stick with this.
Keep in mind:
/usr/local/sbin and /usr/local/bin are in the $PATH environment variable of every user and are searched before other directories. If e.g. you type "ls -l" in a terminal window and there is an executable file /usr/local/bin/ls, then this is called instead of /usr/bin/ls. If you want this behavior, then install your executable to /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/sbin, if not, then don't!
Other locations below /usr/local are commonly accessible for all users but not in the $PATH environment variable. I.e. you have to call executables with fully qualified path.
Locations below /home are commonly accessible only by the owners of the respective home directories and you should not change this.
Keep in mind:
/usr/local/sbin and /usr/local/bin are in the $PATH environment variable of every user and are searched before other directories. If e.g. you type "ls -l" in a terminal window and there is an executable file /usr/local/bin/ls, then this is called instead of /usr/bin/ls. If you want this behavior, then install your executable to /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/sbin, if not, then don't!
Other locations below /usr/local are commonly accessible for all users but not in the $PATH environment variable. I.e. you have to call executables with fully qualified path.
Locations below /home are commonly accessible only by the owners of the respective home directories and you should not change this.
Statistics: Posted by fbe — Fri Nov 07, 2025 10:33 pm