Adobe Shockwave

[mocatz187]

Hi.
I need some additional software that Linux doesn't come (Adobe Shockwave player) with so I guess I am going to have to cut my teeth on this compiling thing that is necessary to install software on linux.
It's really scary and daunting since I used ubuntu which doesn,t require the user to compile the kernel.
Then I will need to do configure all of the file paths so that it will work.
Can anyone list all of the additinal steps besides what I mentioned that will be necessary.
I was trying to learn about programming and have compiled a few C programs but this is way over my head.
I am too new to be allowed to post a web address for the download but its Adobe Shockwave player,
I don't know if there are similar products with simiklar name but I will try my best to describe without giving the URL.

Can self extraction be introduced to linux?


Thanks

[coopstah13]

you don't compile shockwave, it is closed source and distributed in binary form only

you should be able to install flash in ubuntu by installing the package flashplugin-nonfree or ubuntu-restricted-extras which also installs other goodies as well

[reed9]

To elaborate a bit on what coopstah correctly stated, pretty much every distro maintains a section of their software repositories for non-free, ie, proprietary, closed source, patent-encumbered, or otherwise does not conform to free software guidelines. While these sections are often not considered to be part of the main distro, they may still receive some level of official support.

Added on to that, there are often 3rd party repositories, for example, medibuntu, which contain software that cannot be distributed for various legal reasons. An example of this is libdvdcss, which cannot be distributed in the US (or Japan, I believe).

For closed source programs, we have no access to the code, so there is no way for you to build that software yourself. Software that is freely available but closed source is often referred to as freeware. (Much open source software is technically freeware, but is generally not referred to as such.)

For a lot of open source software, compiling it is actually not too difficult. One of the biggest challenges is tracking down and installing any necessary dependencies. This describes the basics of compiling software in Ubuntu.

The basic procedure (not including downloading and extracting the sources) is

./configure
make
make install

(Actually, the program checkinstall is recommended to use install of make install.)

Simple as that in many cases.

More on Ubuntu's software licensing guidelines and repository components.
Licensing | Ubuntu
Components | Ubuntu