How to make .rpm for fedora from SF.net tar.gz?

[BonniesTUX]

How to make .rpm for fedora from SF.net tar.gz?

I wanna install two or three packages from SourceForge, but these are in .tar.gz form not in .rpm.

I will appreciative if anybody can show/explain in details how to make .rpm files from .tar.gz?
or
provide a link to tutorials.

Thanks

[daark.child]

Making rpms is not the easiest thing to explain. For just a few packages, look into a tool called checkinstall. You first compile your packages, but instead of running "make install", you use checkinstall to create an rpm. If you are going to be building many rpms, then I suggest you look at the Fedora RPM Guide.

[waterhead]

Those are the source files in a compressed format. You should be able to install the program using those files. First you need to uncompress them, using terminal commands.

You want the terminal to be "in" the same folder that the compressed file is in. The terminal defaults to your home folder, so if you put the file in a folder named "Downloads" (in your home folder), use this command.

cd ~/Downloads

cd = change directory
~/ = shorthand for your home directory

You then uncompress it with the tar command:

tar xvfz <file name>.tar.gz

It is the "z" in "xvfz" that tells it it is a gzip (.gz) file. If it is a bzip file (.bz2), then a j is used instead of the z.

There should be a file in the uncompressed folder with installation instructions. It could me called README or INSTALL. It usually involves three steps, the first two can be done as a regular user, but to do the actual installation you must have root privileges (use sudo or su).

1). ./configure (optional) - This will configure it to compile on your system.
2). make - This will compile the program.
3). make install - This installs the compiled program, so you first need to give yourself root privileges, using su or sudo.

To compile an application, there are a few programs that need to be installed first.

make - Most likely installed by default
gcc - The Linux C compiler

If you are compiling a driver, that requires the kernel source and/or the kernel headers.

I spelled everything out in detail for you, but it looks soooo much harder than it actually is. Post back if you have more questions.