Set an environment variable to resolve the prefix destination. If GNOME is your desktop of choice: export GNOME_PREFIX=/usr If you want to try-out GNOME: export GNOME_PREFIX=/opt/gnome-&gnome-version; Remember to execute ldconfig after installation of libraries to update the library cache. The try-out group will also need to make all the following configuration changes: Add to your system or personal profile: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/gnome-&gnome-version;/bin export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/opt/gnome-&gnome-version;/lib/pkgconfig export GNOME_LIBCONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib Add to your /etc/ld.so.conf: cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF" # Begin gnome addition to /etc/ld.so.conf /opt/gnome-&gnome-version;/lib # End gnome addition EOF Add to your /etc/man.conf: cat >> /etc/man.conf << "EOF" # Begin gnome addition to man.conf MANPATH /opt/gnome-&gnome-version;/man # End gnome addition to man.conf EOF