problem installing basic programms
 

hi everyone

i am trying to install AOL on linux and there is a programm called peng that does just that. it even has its own tutorial, (yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialAOL.html is the site) but i just don't understand it ... like how do i Unpack and install.. i think i need a program to unpack..if i do, does any one have any recommendations..(I using suse 9.1)

p.s this is the very 1st program in trying to install on linux so that is probably a really stupid question.. but if anyone could help that would be great.

What's the extension of the file you have? .tar.gz?

tar xzvf <File>xxx.tar.gz
or tar xjvf <File>xxx.tar.gz

one switch is for bz2 (or something like that)

prefer rmp for the basic installs.
where u do
rpm -i <file>.rpm

cheeeeeeeeers

What
 

soz.. havnt got a clue what ur on about

we need to know what extention does it have so that we can easily help you
if you have a " .rpm " it is a package if you have a " .tar.gz " you have an achieve
and a gunzip if you have a " .Z " you have a zip file so what extention does it have

for example
AOL.rpm
AOL.tar.gz

its an rpm file
 

thanksfor trying to help... the file is rpm

thakns

If you are using a graphical interface, the installation can be quite simple. All you have to do is start Konqueror, and navigate to the folder which you downloaded the file to.
Click on the file, and it should open up in Konqueror with some information tabs, and a button which says "Install with Yast2". Use that button, and the program should be installed automatically. (You might have to type in the password for root)

If you want to install by command line, open up a terminal, such as Konsole.
Go to the folder where the rpm file is located and type:
rpm -i rpmname

(where rpmname is the name of the file)

Hope this helps.

sorry!
 

sorry!

the rmp version is for suse 8.1 . so i have downloaded a suse 9.1 version,but it is a tar.gz? or a .tar? i have a feeling they are same.

sorry about this

it anyone could help that would be grate

.tar and .tar.gz are not the same. Tar is packing files together and gzip (.gz) is compressing. Another (greater) compressor is bzip2 (.bz2) which is more effective but slower.

To unpack a .tar.gz do this:
tar -xvzf file.tar.gz

If the file is a tar.bz2 do this:
tar -xvjf file.tar.bz2

(check out "man tar" for more info about how to use the tar-command)

After unpacking just rtfm.

/MezzyMeat

im lost again about installing after un packing
 

ok..Tar is what i downloaded it as . so i need to unzip it and run it??. im sorry but i dont no anyting about linux and am again lost

I dont understand this part .. how do i xvzf.tar.gz somthing

"To unpack a .tar.gz do this:
tar -xvzf file.tar.gz"

i also dont understand this part


"After unpacking just rtfm." ???

i search man tar on google (check out "man tar" for more info about how to use the tar-command) and it came up with a load of stuff i didnt understand.

i am a complete novic at linux so if anyone could explain a simpley as possible that would be great

Ok, you seem to have a lot to learn. Lets start with some basic stuff.

I hope you are able to find the console from where to run programs. If you use KDE I believe there is an icon at the bottom that looks like a shell (It was years since I last used KDE so I'm not sure).

When you have found a shell (they can be xterm, aterm, eterm, etc) what I meant was that you should type

man tar

Man is the command to view manual-pages and "tar" is the command you want to check out. It's also here I want you to type in

tar -xvzf yourdownloadedfile.tar.gz

tar = unpack-command
x = unpack, not pack
v = verbose
z = gz-formate
f = chose file (the file you typed in after this)

And now you should get a lot of text showing up. After that you should have a new dir created. Use "cd" to get to that dir and now you should look for a file called README. Read it and if there is a filed called INSTALL you should check that one out too. In these files there are help about how to install the program.

Most programs that comes with a source is installed in three steps:

./configure
make
make install

I don't have time to explain all these commands but shortly "./configure" runs a shell-script that checks out your system and builds a file called Makefile. "make" compiles your program and "make install" moves it to the correct places.

When you have done these steps you should be able to run your program. If you have installed a program called myprogram which came in the package myprogram-1.0.tar.gz the steps should be (not always but if not it should be in the README-file)

tar -xvzf myprogram-1.0.tar.gz
cd myprogram-1.0
./configure
make
make install

Once you have done this it will all come together, it's pretty simple after a while. :)

By the way RTFM means "Read The Fine Manual(s)" or "Read The Fucking Manual(s)", depending on my mood. :P

Good luck!

/MezzyMeat

oh so complicated
 

wow! installing of linux is so much complicated than windows . ill try what you said but i have a feeling i will get lost


p.s.

"rtfm" ... what manuals????

Manuals like the man-pages
or the README-files that come with most packages.

Yes, installing on Linux is a bit more to do but it doesn't have to be that way. You can also use package-systems like Debian's APT. To install a program in Debian you just type
Simpel, but it's good to know how to install source-code too. You maby know that many things in the Linux world is open-source, so then you don't have just a setup.exe, you actually got the whole code to the program. That's why you have to compile and install it by yourself.

/MezzyMeat

yeah
 

yeah i have done a bit of programming in my time, are linux programs given like this to save time when downloading or is there another reason???

Re: yeah
 

If you mean that they often come as open-source. This is much thanks to GNU, www.gnu.org. I guess you have heard of them and their license, GNU General Public Licens (GPL). Programs in Linux come as open-source much because we don't like what Microsoft is doing, locking a program up so only the developers at M$ can change and develop it.

Maby you have a good idea about a change in a program, then you can take the source, change it and maby even suggest this new code to the maintainers of the program. If they like it they use your new version. Thanks to this way of developing, the programs evolve much faster and they follow the ideas of the users, not some guys working in an office trying to guess what we want. :)

The downside is of course that you have to compile the programs by yourself if you download the source but those three steps (configure, make, make install) is absolutly worth the freedom of open-source. :)

/MezzyMeat