Installing an application to run using wine

Question

I would like to install FoxIt and PDF-XChange to run using wine.

There are some things that I would like to see:

1. I would like it to be ~/.wine free. Once in a while I play with windows program and would like to be able to do rm -rf ~/.wine without interfering with these programs.

2. I would like it to have access to all the same areas that most users do.

3. I would ( except for a few environmental settings ) like to install it once in some common location ( probably in /opt ) that most users can use.

4. I would like it to run three different ways: from the command line, from the desktop as an icon, from the application launcher menu, or by clicking associated files ( in this case pdf ). I would like to do this in both KDE and GNOME.

It would also be nice if there was some written "recipe" on how to do this. Meaning an entry similar to entries in the Name your favorite programming language Cookbook.

Answer 1

I'll offer you part of the solution. This is a bit much to ask in a single question.

With Wine you can use prefixes, WINEPREFIX, to control where applications get installed and run from. So you can insulate each app in their own "silos" or keep a couple together in a silo. Organize however you see fit.

NOTE: A prefix is largely independent of the Wine version used.

Example

My keeper apps can go in their own directory, /opt/mywinery.

$ WINEPREFIX=/opt/mywinery wine /path/to/installer.exe