On Saturday 13 March 2004 13:51, Chris Walker wrote:
On Sat 13 Mar, MJ Ray wrote:
On 2004-03-13 10:20:01 +0000 Chris Walker
linux@wymondham.demon.co.uk wrote:
I've never compiled anything before, I don't know where to put this stuff.
Generally, whereever you want.
OK.
Unpack it (tar xzf filename.tar.gz usually) and read the INSTALL file. (If it doesn't have one, report a bug.) Some people like to put it under /opt/src, some under /usr/local/src or /usr/src and some in a subdirectory of their home. I've even got one system with sources in /Depot/Compile/Sources...
It does have an INSTALL file but it didn't give the location that I wanted.
Apologies if this has already been said, but most source packages adhere to the following installation procedure.
1. cd to the directory where you have unpacked the source 2. type ./configure this runs the configure script which does a huge bunch of checks to try to make sure the compile will be successful. It should tell you for example if any libraries are missing. It is usually possible to pass arguments to configure to tell it where you want files to be put. configure creates (amongst other things) a makefile which tells the compiler how to build the programme from the source.
3. type ./make this compiles the programme and should result in an exectuable
4 type ./make install this installs the executable and any other necessary files in predetermined directories.
HTH
Ian