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-2.8

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=$PATH:/opt/gnome-2.8/bin
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/opt/gnome-2.8/lib/pkgconfig
export GNOME_LIBCONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib:/opt/gnome-2.8/lib

Add to your /etc/ld.so.conf:

cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF"
# Begin gnome addition to /etc/ld.so.conf

/opt/gnome-2.8/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-2.8/man

# End gnome addition to man.conf
EOF