# Where do Linux programs go when they are installed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 9, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143 "2002-08-09T13:39:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Maxwell\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Maxwell\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxwell_Edison)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143/1 "2002-08-09T13:39:29Z")

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I installed the RPMs for xmame, kmamerun and a Liquid theme under Lycoris Desktop LX. The install seemed flawless, but I can’t find the damn things anywhere. I always thought programs went to either /usr/bin or /usr/sbin, but now I don’t know.

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**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143/2 "2002-08-09T13:57:36Z")

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depends - but you can see all the files the package installed with rpm -ql packagename

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143/3 "2002-08-09T14:05:49Z")

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Some things go into /usr/local/bin, /usr/X11R6/bin, and other directories. Sometimes they go into their own directories and symbolic links are placed in one of the above directories. As **blinx** said, the _rpm_ command should tell you where all the files in the package went. Also for executable files, you can type “whereis \<name\>” to find the full path to the file.

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**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-linux-programs-go-when-they-are-installed/123143/4 "2002-08-09T15:11:40Z")

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Or, to be completely sure, do a ‘find / -name \<filename\>’

Otherwise ‘slocate’ is much quicker, but requires that you have updated its hash table. (probably done by a ‘cron’ job.)