can't find installed executables

[Matthew Seaman]

On 11/10/2011 10:09, Jim jim wrote:
> I'm kind of new to FreeBSD and installed the latest version a few
> days ago, it gave me the option to install some packages and I chose
> some of them like 'FlightGear' for example.But now I don't know how
> to execute this game or any other program I got installed. I can find
> the folder and it's like /usr/ports/games/flightgear but there is the
> Makefile so I think that is the installation folder and i also tried
> to install it but than it shows me that it is already installed.Could
> you tell me which one is the executable and how to run it or where I
> can find it?

We all had to begin somewhere.  As a general principle, if you don't
know how to do something, first check the handbook:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/

Also, the usual regime of Googling and so forth.  If you're still
mystified, then feel free to ask here.

Now, for your specific question.  /usr/ports/games/flightgear is not the
location of the software you installed.  Rather it is a set of
instructions for how to download, build and install that particular
software.

FlightGear is a bit tricky in that the programs you need to run don't
have names anything like the package itself, as you might expect.  You
can tell this by looking at the file
/usr/ports/games/flightgear/pkg-plist which is a list of the files that
package installs.  Not all ports have a simple pkg-plist file like that,
so alternatively you could run:

    pkg_info -lx flightgear | less

(most, but not all, portnames are lower-case)

Now, which of those to run?  This port installs some manual pages.  I'd
try reading fgfs(1) and fgjs(1) -- which means read the manual page for
fgfs from section 1 of the manual. ie type this:

    man 1 fgfs

Well, '1' is the default actually, so you could miss that bit out and
still achieve the desired effect.  There can be occasions where you need
to specify it --- compare printf(1) with printf(3) for example.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
                                                  Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
JID: matthew at infracaninophile.co.uk               Kent, CT11 9PW

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