Thank you all. I guess I should be using a different mailing list. I apologize. Please don't reply to this email. The things I could figure out from the replies I got. 1) Finding the utilities' source code rpm -qf `which command` I have Suse 8.1 Professional. I just not have installed the source code for file-utils, bin-utils. I will install them from the CDs. 2) Installation location most people seems to suggest /usr/local (which will not be overwritten by an upgrade), but I could still find applications (both system & personal) within /opt. I came to a conclusion that it is a religious thing. 3) Tarballs installation There seems to be no way to track software installed with .tar.gz, unless converting them to rpm. Thanks Jay __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com