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Old 02-04-2009, 04:35 AM   #1
kabith
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Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Bangalore, India
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Installing


I am a total newbie to linux. I switched from windows, but I am loving it. How do I install tar.gz files in linux?
Thank in advance.
 
Old 02-04-2009, 04:43 AM   #2
acid_kewpie
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Generally speaking, try to let "don't" be a good enough answer for now. There is a very very good chance that whatever you're trying to install should have a precompiled version available in whichever package management system you're using on your distro. Whilst it's very easy to install from source, there can be a lot of additional packages to install and a certain learning curve which if you're very new to Linux, is probably best avoided for now if possible.

That said...

tar zxvf myapp.tar.gz
cd myapp
./configure
make
make install
 
Old 02-04-2009, 05:02 AM   #3
kabith
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Checked for precompiled package, but it is not there. I am installing Songbird.
 
Old 02-04-2009, 05:02 AM   #4
jdkaye
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Hi Kabith,
It might help us if you could tell us exactly what tar.gz file you are trying to install. I do agree with acid_kewpie's answer above.
cheers,
jdk
 
Old 02-04-2009, 05:13 AM   #5
jdkaye
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kabith View Post
Checked for precompiled package, but it is not there. I am installing Songbird.
Open a terminal and navigate to where the Songbird tarball is.
Untar it using the the command
Code:
tar zxvf tar Songbird_1.0.0-860_linux-i686.tar.gz
This is not a tarball to be compiled but rather a generic linux binary which now should be moved to its permanent home.
Still from the terminal now use the command
Code:
sudo mv Songbird /opt
You will be prompted for your own password. If you don't like this location you can move it anywhere your heart desires.
Songbird may now be run with this command
Code:
/opt/Songbird/songbird
Upper and lower case are important.
You can create a shortcut to this app on your desktop.

My previous message was sent out before I saw yours about Songbird. Sorry about that.
Cheers,
jdk
 
Old 02-04-2009, 05:39 AM   #6
acid_kewpie
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nothing useful here?

http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Develop...ributed_Builds
 
Old 02-06-2009, 09:11 AM   #7
kabith
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Thanks for the help, will give it a shot. I have to learn this someday, so why not now?
 
Old 02-06-2009, 01:31 PM   #8
kirkster
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similar issue

I am likewise a complete newbie to Linux, though have some familiarity with Solaris and the UNIX command line.

I am running Ubuntu 8.10 - NICE!!!

However, I to want to install a tar.gz

http://www.metasploit.com/framework/...ork-3.2.tar.gz

I want to run this application which is a network penetration tester (I am a network engineer).

When I type the ./configure command it complains about being an unknown command.

Any ideas chaps? Is my path wrong?

Rgds, Steve
 
Old 02-06-2009, 01:37 PM   #9
jdkaye
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kirkster View Post
I am likewise a complete newbie to Linux, though have some familiarity with Solaris and the UNIX command line.

I am running Ubuntu 8.10 - NICE!!!

However, I to want to install a tar.gz

http://www.metasploit.com/framework/...ork-3.2.tar.gz

I want to run this application which is a network penetration tester (I am a network engineer).

When I type the ./configure command it complains about being an unknown command.

Any ideas chaps? Is my path wrong?

Rgds, Steve
It might be a good idea to start a separate thread for this???
That said, what directory are you in when you issue the ./configure command? Is there a configure file in that directory? I would guess not since you get the "unknown command" response. You need to run ./configure from the very directory where the configure file is found.

I am assuming you have untarred the tar.gz file, yes?
cheers,
jdk

Last edited by jdkaye; 02-06-2009 at 01:38 PM.
 
Old 02-06-2009, 01:45 PM   #10
kirkster
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Yes, Extracted the files and created a new folder in my home directory

pwd

/home/steve/Documents/framework

./configure

bash: ./configure: No such file or Directory


So not sure. Didn't start new thread since veru similar to OP. I will start another one!!!!

Rgds, Steve
 
Old 02-06-2009, 01:53 PM   #11
ehawk
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Kabith, what distribution of linux are you using?

Kirkster,

Since you are using Ubuntu, see if you can install this package using synaptice, a graphical front end for the apt-get package manager that Ubuntu uses.

Enter at the command line:

sudo synaptic

You will be prompted for the user password you set when you installed Ubuntu.

Once synaptic is open, you can use it to search for any package you are interested in installing, either by name or package description. You may need to enable additional ubuntu repositories, including "universe" and "multiverse". You can configure this through synaptic.

Installing tarballs (.tar.gz files) is something that can be avoided with most modern linux distributions. Ubuntu is based on Debian, which has over 26,000 packages available via apt-get and synaptic.
 
Old 02-07-2009, 04:30 AM   #12
kabith
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Ubuntu 8.10, Intrepid.
 
Old 02-10-2009, 01:37 AM   #13
kabith
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Distribution: ubuntu 9.04
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Original Poster
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Another question- How do I change the desktop environment from GNOME to KDE?
 
Old 02-10-2009, 01:42 AM   #14
kabith
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Distribution: ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 24

Original Poster
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdkaye View Post
Open a terminal and navigate to where the Songbird tarball is.
Untar it using the the command
Code:
tar zxvf tar Songbird_1.0.0-860_linux-i686.tar.gz
What is meant by navigating through terminal to the tarball?
 
Old 02-10-2009, 01:48 AM   #15
jdkaye
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kabith View Post
What is meant by navigating through terminal to the tarball?
Open a terminal. Normally it starts you off in your home folder /home/kabith, for example (often abbreviated as "~"). Lets say your tarball is located in /tmp.
Navigating to the folder where your tarball is found consists of this:
Code:
cd /tmp
"cd" is the command to change directory (or navigate) to the one indicated following the command.
Code:
cd
with no argument takes you to your home folder.
cheers,
jdk
 
  


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