I am new to linux and am used to the ease of windows installations. I have been really frustrated by programs that are offered for download over the internet for Linux because when I try to install them into linux I'm completely lost.

I'm used to just double clicking on a windows installation program and a neat and tidy wizard pops up and installs everything where it's supposed to go. Not so it seems with linux.

Ive successfully extracted the tar.gz files but that just confuses me even more because that just leaves me with all these files with nondescriped names that tell me nothing in terms of what I'm supposed to do with them. Can anyone help me please.

if you could please email me Heyjupiter617@hotmail.com I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh and I'm aware of RPM files. They seem to be a little easier to manipulate but not all programs written for linux come that way.

~Greg

when you untar those tar.gz files, they usually give you a new directory with a simplified name that has all the files in it, right? so what you do is move into that directory, then install the program. usually installing is done using some variation of the following commands:

$ ./configure
$ make
# make install

(where the $ means you are user, and # means you are root.) it's not that hard, really. the newly created folder also usually always has an INSTALL and/or README file that gives the detailed instructions for installing that particular program.

>btw, what distro are you using? depending on the distro and the program, there are sometimes also other ways of installing things, e.g., using rpm/urmpi, apt-get/synaptic, emerge, swaret, etc.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ticle&artid=15

It's to take many large files and distribute them as a single small file. It's usually pretty easy - type three commands rather than click how many buttons?

It would help if you specified your distro so people could help you with your particular package manager if any.

http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

i don't know why you want us to e-mail you. this is a message board.

anyway, tar's are compressed archives (much like the .zip that's so common in windows) when you download a program in a tar (and some tar's are tar.gz and some are tar.bz2. read the `man tar' page about that) there's usually a README file in there. read it. usually it will tell you to './configure', 'make', and 'make install'. and there you go. it's not that hard, really

I'm using mandrake 9.2

So in other words you're saying that in effect the tar.gz is just an archive and the actual installation file is inside? And instead of using a wizard you are supposed to use commands. Where do I enter these commands? Are there any tutorial programs out there for learning these basics in Linux?

Ok let me check that readme file out so I can see if I can figure this out on my own.

I need a little help lol...

###################################################################
# Installing RAR executables, configuration files and SFX modules #
# to appropriate directories #
###################################################################

PREFIX=/usr/local

install:
cp rar unrar $(PREFIX)/bin
cp rarfiles.lst /etc
cp default.sfx $(PREFIX)/lib

With Mandrake you want... um, whatever the Mandrake installer is that installs rpms. If it works, it's even easier than Windows. But sometimes there are issues.

What's in the tar.gz is the actuall source code. 'configure' configures gets the necessary information about the machine and your options. 'make' converts the code into machine code - the finished binary. 'make install' moves the various files to their proper locations.

You enter the commands directly into the prompt in console mode or open an xterm in a gui and enter them there. If you're using one of the IDEs like KDE or Gnome there's probably an icon like a 'shell' or you can find it buried in a menu somewhere or you can 'run' xterm - or whatever emulator you chose.

Tutorial programs? 'man' comes on your system. Probably not quite what you're looking for. Check out LQ's links sections or search http://www.google.com/linux and you'll find lots of stuff.

Geez I type slow. What's that quote from? I've never messed with rar in Linux - just DOS (against my inclinations). Probably just run that script (if it is) or execute those commands (if it's just directions).

-- Anyway - most of this thread is irrelevant to that bit of weirdness, I guess.