I am trying to install Scribus. I have the latest version from their web-site. I downloaded it from work on a Winblows 2000 machine. I want to install in onto my Fedora Core 2 laptop, but I just don't know what to do with the files. Is there a web-site where I can find instruction?
I am a member of IBM Developer Works, but the information I find there talks about how to unzip a .tar.gz file. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place.

Thank you for your help.

hi,
.tar.gz file is a compressed archive file of the source.this is the format in which the source code usually there for downloading. what kind of file have you got.

use

extracting.
further, ´man tar´ at console should help

#gunzip a.tar.gz this will create a.tar
#tar -xvf a.tar this will create a directory a
#cd a
if there is a "configure" file
#./configure
if there is a Makefile
#make
#make install
i think this will do (# is shell prompt)

Thanks to all for your very rapid answers.
I will try them at lunch time.

Just one thing: it looks like you're doing all these steps using the root account which is not very wise nor it is necessary to install usual applications. Better stick with a regular user account.

I modified the instructions of fssengg slightly. Here, the configure and make steps are done in user mode. Because the installation normally involves copying files into the /usr hierarchy, you need to su to root first.

>gunzip a.tar.gz this will create a.tar
>tar -xvf a.tar this will create a directory a
>cd a

There will most likely be a README and INSTALL file. Please read these files because the particular instructions may be different, plus there may be compiling options that you want to be aware of.

>./configure
if there is a Makefile
>make
>su -
<password>
#make install

For a couple of tarballs I've run into, there wasn't a configure script, but there was a config.in script. For these you need to run 'autoconf' to produce the configure script.
Also, before running ./configure, you might want to run ./configure --help. This may print out some options that you want to consider. For example, for the 'lynx' program, you can add an option with would allow you to run the program in the console and add graphics from the web page using frame buffer support.

The README file may also point out a step such as 'make test' between the make and make install steps.

hi.
dont untar it any where... first read the README file, and check it where to untar, most prob. in / directory, thn use command

tar -zxvf <filename.tar.gz>

I have a directory called ~/downloads where I save files that I download. I will untar the file there and cd to the created directory. The README file isn't available until after you untar the file. You have full rights in your home directory, so you can perform the configure and make steps without su'ing to root. The make install option is the one that copies files where they belong. That is why you want to do this step as root, so that the make install script can copy files under the /usr hierarchy.