How do I install .tar files in Ubuntu?

[Kitty_King]

I should start by explaining that I am a new linux user and I still don't have a handle on installing anything that cannot be found in Synaptic Manager.

The Problem: I want to install two applications.
1) mypaint-0.7.1.tar.bz2
2) CorelPHOTOPAINT9Lnx.tar-1
Both files are sitting in their un-extracted form on my desktop. CorelPHOTOPAINTLnx.tar-1 has an orange padlock icon sitting above the folder. I don't know why that icon is there or what it means, but I suspect that it might interfere with installation. Insight anyone?

Well, I am aware that I will need to use terminal commands, but I am not sure of the exact things I need to type. Searching through other forums for the solution to this matter has proven to be very unrewarding for me. I need to ask this question directly as it relates to my issues. I would appreciate some step by step instructions very much. Thank you.

[jmadero]

installing things from source is a royal pain 90% of the time, you'll have lots of dependency issues that you need to install one by one (sometimes dependencies depend on other things so it can be 20-30 files that you need to manually download and install...)

To give it a go:

open terminal

cd into the untared folder

sudo ./configure
make
sudo make install

if it doesn't spit out errors you're good to go. The lock means it's a privileged folder, if you want to take the lock off just cd to the folder above the locked folder and do

sudo chmod 777 FOLDERNAME

I'm not sure if that'll be necessary though

[Kitty_King]

I am using

cd /home/USERNAME/Desktop/FILENAME to try to get into the untarred file but getting an error message saying there is no such directory. What could I be doing wrong?

[coopstah13]

can you post what you are typing that is giving you the error? my guess is you aren't typing it correctly, you should only need to start typing the folder, then use the tab key on your keyboard to finish the rest, this will minimize input errors

[scutiform]

The filename at the end is not needed ie:- cd(space) /home/username/Desktop

ls (lower case L) will list the files

[scutiform]

for files ending in .tar.gz, use:
Code:
tar -zxvf <filename>
(replacing <filename> with the name of the file).

for files ending in .tar.bz2, use:
Code:
tar -jxvf <filename>
for files ending in .zip, use:
Code:
unzip <filename>
You should now have a new directory, containing all of the source files. To confirm it exists, and to get its name, use the "ls" command again.
Code:
ls
we now need to go into the new directory, so use the cd command:
Code:
cd <directory>



This is where things will differ. Some packages will have an INSTALL or README file which will contain installation instructions. use "ls" to see if the software has an install or readme file. If it does have one, you can use the "more" command to read it, like so:
Code:
more INSTALL
Generally, the final 3 stages are as follows:
- Configure the installation
- Compile the software
- Install the binaries

The pre-installation configuration is done by executing ./configure:
Code:
./configure
Sometime a sudo command in front of ./configure helps
This will perform some requirements testing on your system, and create a "Makefile" which will explain to the "make" utility how the software should be compiled. If you receive any error messages during this stage, you may wish to search the forums to see if they have been found and resolved by someone else already, if not, feel free to post a question on the forums - Please include all of the output including any error messages, and some details about your system - what distro you are using, what are you trying to install etc etc


The next stage is to compile the software, this is done using "make". When you run "make" it will read the instructions in the Makefile and build the application binaries.
Code:
make

The final stage is to install these binaries, ie, copy them to a more perminent location. Typically only the "root" user can do this, so you will need to swich to the root user with the "su" command:
Code:
su
Once you are root, install the binaries using the "make" command, followed by "install", like so:
Code:
make install
That is it!. Check the user documentation of the software you installed for details of how to run the applications
(copied from previous posts)

[jmadero]

Ubuntu developers heavily suggest not using su at all, instead use sudo whenever possible (I've only encountered one time when I couldn't use sudo)

[reed9]

It is definitely best to use pre-compiled packages whenever possible. And easiest.

MyPaint has packages for Ubuntu. You can download them here.

Corel Photopaint I hadn't heard of before. It looks like a closed source program released awhile ago. It's also a pretty huge download for what appears to be a fairly photo editing app. I suggest you try some linux alternatives. The famous one is the GIMP. I quite like Krita, which is a KDE app. Or Picasa is perfectly usable for basic photo editing.

For installing from source, here is an Ubuntu guide.

Since Photopaint is not an opensource program, though, I doubt you are compiling the code. The archived file probably contains some statically linked binaries. Is there a readme file included that explains what to do?

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention Digikam, which is probably my favorite basic photo editing program.