Hi, I was wondering how I can get Linux to run specific programs (eg Gaim) when i log in. Additionally, I want to be able to run ~/bin/rar/unrar from any directory without having to type in the path. I can not put it in /bin as I do not have root access. Can I make my own 'local bin' or set the path somehow? Thanx!

Why do you not have root access, is this not your own installation?

ace

Quote: Original post by yitzle
Hi, I was wondering how I can get Linux to run specific programs (eg Gaim) when i log in. Additionally, I want to be able to run ~/bin/rar/unrar from any directory without having to type in the path. I can not put it in /bin as I do not have root access. Can I make my own 'local bin' or set the path somehow?
Thanx!

export PATH=$PATH:/home/yourname/bin/rar

Put that in ~/.bash_profile

If you leave Gaim in the system tray at exit, it should normally be reloaded (KDE does it this way, don't know about GNOME or other DE's)

I've created a directory called root in my home directory and installed things there. Most packages that are compiled with the ./configure, make, make install can be installed under my personal root directory by doing ./configure --prefix=$HOME/root

To have the system find binaries, libraries, headers and manuals from my root dir, I've arranged for the following file to be run when any shell starts:

export PATH=$HOME/root/bin:$PATHexport LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/root/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATHexport PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/root/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATHexport CPATH=$HOME/root/include:$CPATHexport MANPATH=$HOME/root/man:$MANPATH

I run this file from /etc/profile on Debian. I don't know if doing this from .bash_profile is enough to make your desktop system (KDE or Gnome) aware of this and permitting, for example, running your personal binaries through the Alt+F2 shortcut.

Which distro is this?
The way I have my X programs running is by adding them to my .xinitrc, so it looks like this:
exec gaim &
exec xfce4

I'm talking about the terminals I have at school. They have Redhat 4 installed. Thanx for the replies. I'm not to experianced with Linux, so I'll try out the suggestions and play around a bit.