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I downloaded processing-2.0.1-linux64.tgz.

In Windows, when I download a non-install software (.exe) I locate it under Program Files directory so that it stays with other software. I don't want it to run in Downloads or somewhere else. I'm vety miticulous about my directory structure.

So in Ubuntu I want processing software to run just like firefox. I mean when I write 'proc' , it should show up in gnome activities window. I don't know where to locate a tgz file and contents of it? There is "Add downloaded package" in Synaptic file menu. I tried it however the tgz file was disabled, not clickable.

enter image description here

This is contents of processing-2.0.1 folder.

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Firstly a .tgz file is not a program file. It is an gz compressed tar archive file, and as such is not runnable. Usually, this will be a source package and will need to be built.

It appears you have already expanded it into a directory. If not the command tar xzf processing-2.0.1-linux64.tgz' will expand it. I would copy or move it to/opt` and expand it there

From the contents it appears to be Java based program. And will fail if you don't have Java installed.

Open a terminal window and cd to directory where you have expanded the archive. Try running processing and processing-java. Remember which one starts the program as you want.

To run the program from the classpath (assumes expanded to /opt/processing-2.0.1) create the following file in a different directory. (I'll use the name processing ). 

#!/usr/bin/bash
cd /opt/processing-2.0.1
./processing

Then run the following command to add make it executable it to /usr/local/bin. 

sudo mv processing /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/processing

You can also edit the menu to add a new item, or create a desktop icon. In either case you would use the full path to the program.

To understand where linux puts its file read the output of the command man hier.

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  • I've already run the program. It works fine but it is in Downloads directory. I just asked where is the appropriate place to store it in (like firefox stored)?
    – Can
    Jul 7, 2013 at 13:00
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    The appropriate place is /opt. I posted before my response was complete. The command sudo mv processing-2.0.1 /opt run from the Downloads directory should put it in the correct place.
    – BillThor
    Jul 7, 2013 at 13:07
  • If you want to learn more about Linux filesystem directory structure, read the Wikipedia article on FHS: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
    – soulsource
    Jul 7, 2013 at 14:36
  • Ok it runs in /opt now. How to use Synaptic to handle this? There is "Add downloaded package" in Synaptic file menu. I tried it but the tgz file was not clickable.
    – Can
    Jul 9, 2013 at 17:46
  • Synaptic is not the tool for running applications. Try searching for add apps to the panel for results like this. askubuntu.com/questions/165562/…
    – BillThor
    Jul 10, 2013 at 0:35

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