Problem With Installing Programs

[Lojimek]

I read this thread
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...are-linux.html
I started to read the first article (Compiling and Installing From Source)
and I got to the part where he said to execute ./configure. But I can't figure out how.
I typed it in and it said no such file or directory exists. Then I tried to look for it but I couldn't find it.
Does anybody know where I could get this working?

Thanks

Lojimek

[coopstah13]

not all source packages will come with a configure script, usually there is a file in the source tarball called README, INSTALL, or something like that, if you look in there it usually tells you what you need to do to install

however, this is usually unnecessary depending on the distro you are running, it is usually wiser to install using the package manager, what distro are you using and what are you trying to install?

[Ajax4Hire]

Specific details about the package/install program would be helpful.

In general:
[ ~]$ wget new-program-1.2.3-source.tar.gz
[ ~]$ tar -xvpzf new-program-1.2.3-source.tar.gz
[ ~]$ cd new-program-1.2.3-source
[ ~/new-program-1.2.3-source]$ ./configure && make && su --command="make install"

The real meat is the ./configure line.
This will use the default settings for the auto configure program,
run the make to build from a source "tarball" and then install using the "make install" as root (only root can copy files to some install destinations, otherwise install to your local area).

A 2condary fun is to edit the source files to add your own flavor.
For example, change the default behavior for nmap or add a new switch/config-file setting for vsftpd.