How do I install .tar.gz apps via the command line?

BigFoot13 · 10-01-2006, 09:55 PM

Quick question: How do I install .tar.gz applications from the command line? I have installed .deb apps before, but I just downloaded some games from sourceforge in this format. Thanks.

weibullguy · 10-01-2006, 10:02 PM

First you have to unpack the tarball.

Code:

weibullhost ~ $ tar xzf <name_of_tarball>.tar.gz

It's probably source code that you will then need to build and install.

Code:

weibullhost ~ $ cd <name_of_tarball_dir>
weibullhost ~ $ ./configure
weibullhost ~ $ make
weibullhost ~ $ su -c 'make install'

Before you run the configure script, type

Code:

weibullhost ~ $ ./configure --help

to see what options you can pass to tweak the build and installation. Library directories, install prefix, system configuration directory, etc. are often passed.

jon23d · 10-01-2006, 10:13 PM

If you are using ubuntu and did not enable the root user then you will have to change the make command to: sudo make install

lorebett · 10-02-2006, 04:18 AM

before running make install, you might want to issue also:

Code:

make check

that will run the (possible) test suite.

nattu · 10-02-2006, 10:02 AM

Two more options to make that may be useful....

Quote:

make -n ....

This is same as make except no commands are executed. Useful to see what is needed.

Quote:

make -k ...

The option means keep going... so make won't stop at first error. Useful to see
what can and can't be made.

Baix · 10-02-2006, 10:08 AM

Read the docs that come with the program and you'll be much better off

Code:

tar -xvf program_name.tar.gz
cd porgram_name
less README
less INSTALL

leftblank · 10-02-2006, 10:35 AM

Here are some basics of tar:
Switch Explanation
x Extract the contents of the TAR file
c Create a TAR file
z Gunzip(uncompress) it before extracting, used on file ending in .tar.gz or .tgz
v Verbose - display contents as it is tarring or extracting
f Filename to follow
t List contents of TAR file

You may also want to try "gunzip". I forget if it's pre-installed in Ubuntu or not. You can pull up synaptic package manager and check though.

With gunzip you can merely execute the following command:
gunzip yourfile.txt.gz (where yourfile.txt.gz is the name of the file you wish to uncompress)
The result of this command is a file called yourfile.txt. (By default, gunzip will delete the yourfile.txt.gz file.)

Hope this helps.
(Your "Loser" Friend)

raymor · 10-02-2006, 05:00 PM

FYI, 99% of the time the first reply is all you'll need.
The other replies are useful too, I'm sure, but most of the
time it's just:

tar -zxvf whatever.tar.gz
cd whatever
./configure
make
su -c 'make install'

This "make" process doesn't automatically resolve dependencies, though, so
you may get an error, generally from "configure" saying that you're missing
some library or whatever. In that case you then have to go get the package
that has the library, or the tar.gz source file for the library, and install
it, either from from the .deb package or the by doing the same "configure,
make, make install" routine for each library it needs.

Thanks goodness for systems like yum and apt which take care of these
dependencies for us - dependencies can be a pain when working with
"source tarballs" - .tar.gz files.

BigFoot13 · 10-03-2006, 05:59 PM

Is there any GUI method of installing these programs? I have KPackage, but when I open them it says "Unknown package type" and then the path of the package. I kave a program called Kconfiggure which seems like it could get the job done, but I'm not entirely sure how to use it.

weibullguy · 10-03-2006, 06:26 PM

Yup. It's called Konsole in KDE. Open that up and type the commands to unpack the tarball, compile and install the package.

BigFoot13 · 10-07-2006, 09:49 PM

OK, well I have extracted the files and I have changed the directory, but I get this when I try to configure:

Code:

configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

Nylex · 10-07-2006, 11:45 PM

Install gcc then. Obviously you need a compiler to build C programs from source!

BigFoot13 · 10-08-2006, 05:17 PM

OK, I have installed GCC, but how do I use it? (sorry for the noob question

)

BigFoot13 · 10-08-2006, 09:08 PM

Well I tried to configure it again, and it successfully checked for gcc, but now I get a different error right after that:

Code:

checking for C compiler default output... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

Is there something I need to add to gcc?

nattu · 10-09-2006, 11:35 AM

Looks like a permission problem...
Try to compile as a superuser.

Another possibility: Tar file already has an
executable that is write protected; not likely
but known to happen