Installing Software Under Linux

Well, there are 2 kinds of software under Linux, one is commercial and the other is open source code.
 

Uncompress the tar.gz file  you have downloaded

Just go to a directory, example : /home/gogota, and

tar zxvf /mnt/floppy/mp3player.tar.gz

If your tar.gz file is inside /mnt/floppy and the filename is mp3player.tar.gz
 

Commercial Software

Installing a commercial one is just simple...just try to look for some file name 'install' or 'setup' and run it.
If it doesn't work, try sh install or ./install

Remember, there are two types of library in Linux, one is libc5 and the other is glib6, if you install the wrong one, your program won't even run at all !!

Make sure you get the correct library version before you install it ! Different distribution using different library !!!!!!!!

Open Source Code Software

Ok....after you have untar the files that you have downloaded, look carefully at the files that it has created inside the directory. There should be a 'Makefile' or a 'configure' file. If yours only has configure files, just run it, the configure script will  check your computer enviroment and make a nice 'Makefile' for you. (if configure won't run, try ./configure or sh configure).

Now, we are ready to compile the program !

Type make to start the compiling process. Make is an utility that read your 'Makefile' and convert your source code to machine binary code. It using GCC in the process.

After that , just make install

Note : I recommend you read the README or INSTALL file before you install any software !
 

Installing Program That Run On X Windows

I have to remind you that if you are installing a program that only run on x windows, it will be very tricky and you must install all the library before you can compile it. And you must make sure the library is in the right path !

Some of the famous library is gtk+, qt and tcl.

Try edit /etc/ld.so.conf and add the path and run ldconfig if the installation program cannot find the file but actually it is there.