debian 4.0 etch help :(

[p0xy]

Hi i have just installed debian 4.0 etch and im having trouble with installing anything. Im new to linux so sorry if this is a stupid question.

I downloaded a program i wanted to install, the source, when i do:-

tar xzvf "name of file.tar.gz"

cd nameoffile

then ./configure

ir comes up with there is no C compiler and it aborts, i dont understand what to do, can someone help me please?


Thanks

[p0xy]

This is the exact problem i am getting:-


configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH.



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[cheesecake42]

click on system>administration>Synaptec Package Manager and search for C Compiler. pick one like gcc and it will install it for you. you can also search for whatever program you are trying to install in synaptec and it might find it for you and install it automatically.

[devils casper]

Execute this

su 
apt-get update
apt-get install build-essential

Check this Tutorial on How to install softwares in Linux.

[creativename]

Installing GCC (and other build-essential stuff) will do, but as cheesecake42 said it's probably best to check whether that program is available through the package manager first, as that is considerably easier.

You can use the GUI front-end (System > Administration > Synaptec Package Manager), or optionally apt-get from the command line. ("su", "apt-get update", "apt-get package_name").

[devils casper]

Installing GCC (and other build-essential stuff) will do, but as cheesecake42 said it's probably best to check whether that program is available through the package manager first, as that is considerably easier.

You can use the GUI front-end (System > Administration > Synaptec Package Manager), or optionally apt-get from the command line. ("su", "apt-get update", "apt-get package_name").

Simply installing gcc will not sort out problem. libc6-dev and a few other libraries are required to compile sources. gcc installation doesn't include those.
build-essential meta-package includes all necessary libs and compilers and I would suggest you to install it only.

Synaptic is just a front-end of apt-get.