Installing issue with tar.gz files

[Johnathan Bailes]

On Sat, 2005-02-12 at 20:54 +0300, Kumara wrote:
> Hi list
> Could someone tell me how to compile/install packages that comes in
> tar.gz
> Ex. I have asterisk tar.gz source file but don't know how to install
> it. could someone give me steps to go ahead.
>  
> I'm fairly familiar installations with rpm packages (but not src.rpm)
> hope your assistance
> Mohan

Uh ok did you at the very start of this process actually download a
src.rpm?  Or did you download a source tarball a file with the *.tar.gz.

If you downloaded a src rpm then the original reply has got your issues
all sewn up.

But if you download a source package a file .tar.gz under a link that
said like source package then welcome to the wonderful world of
compiling from source.  

I am so glad you could make it.

make yourself a src dir or something 

drag the tarball to the source dir.

Make sure you installed all that development stuff like a compiler (gcc
and g++ etc..etc..).

Open up a terminal and cd to your dir.

tar xvzf package_name.tar.gz
cd package_name
./configure --prefix=usr
make 
make install

If you want to take the traditional Unix approach don't use the --prefix
part but it gets tricky trying to get all the stuff a gnome app for
example needs to act right if you don't install it all in the same
prefix.

Yes, folks I know that you can give most of those programs the
sysconfdir variable I think but I am trying not to overwhelm anyone.