DESTDIR and PREFIX of make

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I am trying to make software install to a specific directory. I found several ways, but not sure what are the differences between them. ./configure --prefix=* make install --prefix=* make install DESTDIR=* I am confused about the functions of these three. Do they achieve the same goal? Thanks. c  linux  bash  makefile share improve this question edited Jul 4 '12 at 5:55 caf 132k 11 152 286 asked  Jul 3 '12 at 8:49 Sean 397 1 4 12

For the second one, I am not sure either. Some page says "make install PREFIX", while others say "make install prefix" and "make install --prefix". I have not tried them yet. –   Sean  Jul 3 '12 at 9:28 add a comment

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up vote 64 down vote accepted

Number 2 is simply an error as far as I know. Number 1 determines where the package will go when it is installed, and where it will look for its associated files when it is run. It's what you should use if you're just compiling something for use on a single host. Number 3 is for installing to a temporary directory which is not where the package will be run from. For example this is used when building deb packages. The person building the package doesn't actually install everything into its final place on his own system. He may have a different version installed already and not want to disturb it, or he may not even be root. So he uses configure --prefix=/usr so the program will expect to be installed in /usr when it runs, then make install DESTDIR=debian/tmp to actually create the directory structure. share improve this answer answered  Jul 3 '12 at 9:09 Alan Curry 7,252 1 13 25

21   Very good answer. There's a fourth case that isn't asked about: make install prefix=/foo/bar/baz. That's going to install it to a different place but not create all the directories asDESTDIR=/foo/bar/baz would. It's commonly used with GNU stow via ./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && sudo make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/foo, which would install binaries in /usr/local/stow/foo/bin. (make install DESTDIR=/usr/local/stow/foo, by comparison, would install binaries in /usr/local/stow/foo/usr/local/bin.) –   Jack Kelly  Jul 3 '12 at 9:14 2   good addition. That's probably what Number 2 was really supposed to be –   Alan Curry  Jul 3 '12 at 9:25 Thanks for your answer. I have voted for you guys. –   Sean  Jul 3 '12 at 9:29 2   For what it's worth, in a cmake-based build you can emulate "case 4" (for stow, etc) by runningcmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/foo/bar/baz -P cmake_install.cmake in the build directory. –  rpavlik  Sep 6 '12 at 17:12 @JackKelly: Thanks! I've been using DESTDIR with GNU stow and have had to fix-up the directory structure with a mv usr/local/* . && rmdir usr/local && rmdir usr typically -- using prefix= is much better! –   thinkski  Aug 24 '14 at 7:35

up vote 38 down vote favorite 18

I am trying to make software install to a specific directory. I found several ways, but not sure what are the differences between them. ./configure --prefix=* make install --prefix=* make install DESTDIR=* I am confused about the functions of these three. Do they achieve the same goal? Thanks. c  linux  bash  makefile share improve this question edited Jul 4 '12 at 5:55 caf 132k 11 152 286 asked  Jul 3 '12 at 8:49 Sean 397 1 4 12

For the second one, I am not sure either. Some page says "make install PREFIX", while others say "make install prefix" and "make install --prefix". I have not tried them yet. –   Sean  Jul 3 '12 at 9:28 add a comment

1 Answer

active oldest votes

up vote 64 down vote accepted

Number 2 is simply an error as far as I know. Number 1 determines where the package will go when it is installed, and where it will look for its associated files when it is run. It's what you should use if you're just compiling something for use on a single host. Number 3 is for installing to a temporary directory which is not where the package will be run from. For example this is used when building deb packages. The person building the package doesn't actually install everything into its final place on his own system. He may have a different version installed already and not want to disturb it, or he may not even be root. So he uses configure --prefix=/usr so the program will expect to be installed in /usr when it runs, then make install DESTDIR=debian/tmp to actually create the directory structure. share improve this answer answered  Jul 3 '12 at 9:09 Alan Curry 7,252 1 13 25

21   Very good answer. There's a fourth case that isn't asked about: make install prefix=/foo/bar/baz. That's going to install it to a different place but not create all the directories asDESTDIR=/foo/bar/baz would. It's commonly used with GNU stow via ./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && sudo make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/foo, which would install binaries in /usr/local/stow/foo/bin. (make install DESTDIR=/usr/local/stow/foo, by comparison, would install binaries in /usr/local/stow/foo/usr/local/bin.) –   Jack Kelly  Jul 3 '12 at 9:14 2   good addition. That's probably what Number 2 was really supposed to be –   Alan Curry  Jul 3 '12 at 9:25 Thanks for your answer. I have voted for you guys. –   Sean  Jul 3 '12 at 9:29 2   For what it's worth, in a cmake-based build you can emulate "case 4" (for stow, etc) by runningcmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/foo/bar/baz -P cmake_install.cmake in the build directory. –  rpavlik  Sep 6 '12 at 17:12 @JackKelly: Thanks! I've been using DESTDIR with GNU stow and have had to fix-up the directory structure with a mv usr/local/* . && rmdir usr/local && rmdir usr typically -- using prefix= is much better! –   thinkski  Aug 24 '14 at 7:35