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I'm trying to create a sym link in my /usr/bin directory as the command drush8

But every time I do it, it doesn't show up in /usr/bin but instead says it already exists. It's thinking that it exists in the drush8/drush directory, but I want it in /usr/bin

My file is located in /usr/bin/drush8/vendor/drush/drush/drush

And I want it as a symlink in /usr/bin as drush8

What am I doing wrong?

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You already have a directory called drush8 in /usr/bin, you can't also have a link (or any other kind of file) with the same name.

If you want drush8 to work as a command, you could add the appropriate folder to your $PATH or define an alias.

Generally speaking folders such as drush8 would go in /opt, that way you'd avoid this problem... Strictly speaking your symlink should go in /usr/local/bin rather than /usr/bin.

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  • i see. thanks. so /opt stands for what? so in linux /opt would be the equivalent of program_files in windows? and /usr/bin would have all the executable files? Commented May 7, 2016 at 18:01
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    /opt is intended for third-party software that installa in its own directory; the FHS has more details. It is similar to Program Files in Windows... /usr/bin is normally reserved for executables provided by your distribution's packages. Commented May 7, 2016 at 18:35
  • @StephenKitt - sorry to jump onto an old post... but very helpful. I looked around to see where other things were installed and decided to install at /usr/share/ is that similar to /opt or different? - Maybe this should a separate question... Commented Mar 7, 2020 at 19:02
  • @tom no, it’s quite different (see the FHS link above). As a general rule, on Linux distributions, you should leave everything apart from /usr/local, /opt, /home and /srv alone (outside those four directories, everything is managed by your distribution). Commented Mar 7, 2020 at 22:09
  • @StephenKitt - many thanks for pointing out the FHS link - that is so useful - I did not see it before - program moved to /opt with symlink or similar in /usr/local/bin. Thanks so much for your help with this - should I ask a question for your to answer with this link? Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 0:52

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