Re: first time install
David Pilz wrote:
>
> I am about to install linux for the first time, and am having a few
> problems: what are the symbolic links for? what do they do? They are not
> being downloaded to my computer when I download the packages. Do I need
> them?
If you're coming from the world of Win9x/NT, a symbolic link is
like a shortcut. It's simply a pointer to the real file (but in
console mode, so it's not an icon on X) DOS/Windows doesn't
really have anything comparable, but as said, you can kind of
think of them as shortcuts.
Generally, if a link is needed, it'll be created by the
installer. Sometimes you might need to create one manually, like
so:
ln -s /home/pilz/the_real_file
/starterfiles/Start_The_Real_File
> Also, the file sizes specified for the packages are relatively
> small - 3 Kb, 4 Kb, etc., but when I download the packages they turn out
> to be larger - 3 Mb, 4 Mb, and devel was about 150 Mb. Why is this? Any
> help would be appreciated.
I can't speak to this.
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