software installation

[minsinc]

I downloaded some programs from the net that are in a installer.tar.gz format. How do I make these programs run?

[dtodd]

Check the website where you got the software from; look for install documentation etc... In a nutshell source files provided in tar.gz format need to be uncompressed, configured, compiled and installed.

So first off uncompress the software:

 $ gunzip -cd software.tar.gz | tar -xvf -

Then cd into the software directory just created. Then check the INSTALL and README files - these are usually provided by the software author to tell you how to install - make sure to read them!

But basically after you uncompress the software you run this sequence:

 
$ ./configure 

$ make

$ su
# make install

The configure command will usually take extra arugments (as to where to install to, any extra features you want, etc) - so as I said make sure to read the INSTALL / README files...

e.g. a good example is ./configure --prefix=/my/install/path to install the software into /my/install/path

make will compile the softare up; make install (as root) will install the software.


Make sure to note the ouput from each command, e.g. if ./configure doesn't work then make ain't gonna work etc... You'll need to have a compiler installed (gcc is the usual suspect) and make utilities ; and if the software needs extra stuff you don't have ./configure will tell you.

[sdousley]

So first off uncompress the software:

 $ gunzip -cd software.tar.gz | tar -xvf -

can be dome as

tar xzvf filename.tar.gz

and for .bz2's:

tar xjvf filename.tar.bz2