How to install thirdparty library to a filesystem prefix

edit

Hello,

I want to use a python library provided by Gumstix Robovero in ROS.

I looked through the Using ThirdPartyLibraries and I guess I may need to Wrapping External Library. In Wrapping External Library, It says "for ROS Fuerte(and Groovy I guess), the best practice is to no longer wrap thirdparty libraries and instead install to a filesystem prefix using catkin". I am using Groovy right now, but I am not very familiar with catkin and actually I don't understand filesystem prefix. For Wrapping External Library, I know the basic idea is to create a ROS package that compiles the third-party library code and makes it available using rosbuild's dependency system. But in Groovy, how can I install thirdparty libraries to a filesystem prefix?

Thanks in advance!