How do you install aplliactions (Tar issue)

[Weedman]

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i have downloaded many apps for Mandrake lately but EVERY SINGLE ONE that has the extension .tar.bz2 , .tar.gz , and even .zip (only for Linux , no trouble under Windows)

i am really new to linux and have no idea how to use or install these files.

my attempts at trying to install them end up in them being extracted (or complaining that they can't) and trying to run one of the commands but they don't work.

surely im doing something wrong

[soulbrothax831]

You'll want to run all of this in a terminal/command line, which you'll find on your taskbar that will look like a monitor with a sea shell over it. If not there, you can open the Kmenu/start menu and go to System - Terminal - Open any Terminal there.

If you're downloading .tar.bz2 or .tar.gz files, you're most likely downloading source files, which need to be unpacked and compiled. They do work considering if you have no dependency problems with certain files. To unpack .tar.bz2, simply:

tar -jzxf filename.tar.bz2

For .tar.gz

tar -zxvf filename.tar.gz

They will unpack into the directories they make and you'll need to cd (change directory) into them.

I believe you can treat .zip the same way you would as if it were a Windows machine.

Compiling from source is a bit different. From a Terminal, you'll need to login as root:

su
<enter root password>
./configure
make
make install

If any problems or dependency issues come along, try posting them here and maybe myself or someone can get to you with an answer. Hopefully this works and helps you out.

[Weedman]

thanks, i haven't used the command line much

my favourite command (shows that im new to linux) is

shutdown -h now

[Weedman]

i used your method to install something called wxBase (somebody told me that i needed it to run apollon) everything went alright until i got to the ./configure stage.

it said this:

error: cannot figure out if compiler needs -ext o: cannot compile

what does this mean?

[jaboua]

Just to inform: "poweroff" is a simpler way to turn off the computer... My favorite command is "eject"

I am not quite sure about your problem thought, but I remember when I used mandriva (10.1 ce) I had to install some other version of GCC because g++ was missing, so it may have something to do with the tools for compiling, you said you had an error with /lib/cpp too...

[Weedman]

the /lib/cpp issue was that it had something to do with the file permissions not being there but that file is only a link