An easy question on actually installing programs in linux

[stagnant7]

Hi,

um well this will be a piece of piss question to answer, so hopefully someone will answer it heh

Um yeah how do u install things in linux? like this compiling thing i hear about..and rpm what the?.....
if u reply to this questoin could you please be fairly specific as to what is needed to be done as i have limited/no linux experience.

if i download a program from the web .....it is a folder filled with numerous files....how do u compile them is ther just one file to compile and it uses teh rest.....can u then delete the downloaded files etc etc....this is the sort of info i would appreciate ....

cheers!

[Dillinger]

Ok, I'll run this down as simply as I can, and maybe we can make this a sticky or something for future reference.

Ok there's several types of compressed files, which have different endings. There's .tar, .zip, .gz, .tar.gz, .bz2 and .tbz2. The first step to compiling something is upacking it. Here are the commands to unpacking these file types:

.tar - tar -xvf file
.zip - unzip file
.gz - gunzip file
.tar.gz - tar -xzvf file
.bz2 - bunzip2 file or -xjvf
.tbz2 - bunzip2 file followed by tar -xvf file

Next you should look at the README and INSTALL files if there are any to check for special instructions. Unless specified otherwise, the following is pretty much standard procedure:

cd into the directory of the file you just unpacked
./configure ( you may also do ./configure --prefix=/pathname to specify where you want it to be installed). This will configure the make file, which you will excecute next.
make - pretty straight forward here
su root (needed for next step)
make install - installs the newly compiled files.
make clean - this is optional, this cleans anything installed into the current directory so the process can be done over again.

That's it for installation, the last bit of the make install shows where everythings been installed. Now to uninstall, all you need to do is make uninstall. This deletes everything that was installed on your system. Once you install something, you really don't need to keep the original directory unless you want to. Now for RPMs

RPM stands for Redhat Package Management I believe, it's their claim to fame so to speak. RPM's are precompiled packages that only require one line of command, or just a double click depending on your distro. For the quick fix, try double clicking the file. It will ask you for the root password and proceed, but this doesn't leave you with any options. Here are a few of the commands and options available:

*su root is needed to install RPMs
rpm -i file installs the file
rpm -Uvh file upgrades from a previous release
rpm -e file uninstalls
rpm --prefix=/path

The thing to remember about RPM's is that they are usually built specifically for distros, so unless you get one for whatever distro you're using be sure to get the source rpm. Well that's all I have right now, hope this is helpful to you and other people in the future. Anyone else feel free to add to or edit this.

[bmxface]

Well said.

[nelamvr6]

Thanks!