Configuring install path: prefix=[PREFIX] not fully understood
<p>I think this is simply a general c++ question:</p>

<p>I'm attempting to compile a local version of ffmpeg on Linux Fedora using the gnu c++ compiler. I have source code in a bunch of folders under:</p>

<pre><code>~/&lt;username&gt;/Downloads/Code/ffmpeg_sources/
</code></pre>

<p>which is where I'm attempting to set the config flags to install the build to a target not under this tree but at a root level directory with local shared libraries:</p>

<pre><code>/usr/local/
</code></pre>

<p>There is this following section near the beginning of the configuration file:</p>

<pre><code>Standard options:

 --prefix=PREFIX          install in PREFIX []
 --bindir=DIR             install binaries in DIR [PREFIX/bin]
 --datadir=DIR            install data files in DIR [PREFIX/share/ffmpeg]
 --docdir=DIR             install documentation in DIR [PREFIX/share/doc/ffmpeg]
 --libdir=DIR             install libs in DIR [PREFIX/lib]
 --shlibdir=DIR           install shared libs in DIR [PREFIX/lib]
 --incdir=DIR             install includes in DIR [PREFIX/include]
 --mandir=DIR             install man page in DIR [PREFIX/share/man]
 --enable-rpath           use rpath to allow installing libraries in paths
                          not part of the dynamic linker search path
</code></pre>

<p>I may have completely misunderstood this, but I thought that setting a value like</p>

<pre><code>--prefix=/usr/local
</code></pre>

<p>or</p>

<pre><code>--prefix=[/usr/local]
</code></pre>

<p>might work, but it appears not to, as once the ./config, make&amp;&amp;make install is complete, it has done a bunch of stuff but there's nothing installed at the target. There are a LOT of new executable files built in the source directory, so presumably the build is working but I'm simply specifying the paths incorrectly? A part of the same problem is that it's unclear whether, once I've set the</p>

<pre><code>--prefix=[PREFIX]
</code></pre>

<p>correctly, I need to set all of the further</p>

<pre><code>--datadir, --libdir
</code></pre>

<p>etc. or whether the first --prefix value is enough?</p>

<p>What is the above configuration syntax trying to show me?</p>