Help! Unable to install programs on Ubuntu
 

Hi, I'm painfully bad with Ubuntu, and although I've been in tech support for Windows for about 10 years, I can't seem to work out, what I'm sure is a really easy problem...

I want to install a couple of applications, which, I'm reiliably informed, are meant for Ubuntu.

In Windows, you download the .exe, and double click it to install.
In Ubuntu, you download the .gz and extract it (got that far) and double click the 'configure' file, which tells you in a blinding flash that it couldn't find the various files required for the application to install, then quits.

I tried copying the files to the /usr/etc... location, but that doesn't seem to help.

Does anyone have any (I'm sure very basic) instructions on how to do this?
Thanks in advance.

You ahve a number of options:
1) If the application you're trying to install is in the repositories, simply fire up Synaptic, do a search, and click Install.
2) If it's not, then run that configure file from a terminal. This will show you the errors. If it is missing libraries, then install them first.
Please let us know what you're installing and what errors are being generated. Also, in the future, you would benefit from choosing a proper thread title. "Help! Painfully crap with Linux Ubuntu" does not describe your symptoms at all.

Yeah, a better description gets more responses.

But here is the answer to all your questions on Ubuntu --

www.ubuntuguide.org/

Its a great distro IMO for someone starting off. . .but they way the manage repositories, I am growing less and less a fan of...

first of all, linux aint windows.

to install a program thats not included in the repositories you, as i'm sure u know, download the source code and compile it.

Step 1: Extract the tar.gz and open the extracted file in a terminal (command prompt)

Step 2: type "./configure" and let it do its stuff

Step 3: type "su" and they your root password

Step 4: type "make" and let it do its stuff

Step 5: type "make install" and let its do its stuff

Step 6 (optional): type "make clean", you only need to do this if you plan on using the same file on another computer


The program should now be installed. If the "./configure" isnt working there are two main possabilities. 1) there is a problem with the code, and 2) you do not have the required libraries. As in linux when software is not included in repositories then you download the source code. In order to compile that sorce code you need to have the libraries installed that the code uses. It sounds like this is the problem your having. To fix it go to the place you downloaded the tar.gz and see if it lists any requirements, if it does, download the needed libraries and repeat the process.

Installing software on linux is extreamly easy when its included in the repositories, however if it is not it is much harder than windows.

Welcome to linux and LQ forums!

If the applications are meant for ubuntu then all you need to do is:

click 'applications'
click 'add applications'
type in your password
click file => advanced
click 'search'

type the name of the packages and when you find them mark them for installation. You need to be online for this. If you cannot find the packages then change the search parameters to 'description and name' and describe what task you want to achieve.

Hope this helps

Being more specific then..
 

Thanks for the help, I'm still struggling with the various ins and outs of it though..

1. I'm trying to install WEP cracking software, in this case weplab 0.1.5
2. I extracted the relevant tar.gz to the desktop, and named it Extracted
3. I went to Applications | Accessories | Terminal
4. I browsed to the Extract - Weplab folder on the desktop, and dragged the configure file into the Termial window (~/Desktop/Extract/weplab-0.1.5$ ./configure).
5. It ran with the following response:

steve@ubuntu:~/Desktop/Extract/weplab-0.1.5$ ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... no
checking for working aclocal-1.4... missing
checking for working autoconf... missing
checking for working automake-1.4... missing
checking for working autoheader... missing
checking for working makeinfo... found
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.

... So it would appear I'm missing a few things, including a C complier, should I have chosen a different kind of download, or am I doing something wrong?

First off did you try looking if it was listed under the menu for adding applications that Kirmonkey described. If not you may need to add some more repositiories, described here Really this is the easiest way to install something using ubuntu. Even if this particular app isn't in there, I know at least in the hoary repositories there is another cracking software, don't know about the breezy, I haven't made the switch yet.

If you really want to try getting the one you already have working, as you said you'll need a compiler. For some reason the default installation with ubuntu doesn't include these, I guess they figure everyone will be using synaptic to get things working. I think you can get the compilers by installing the package build-essential the same way we already told you how. You can also install packages by using apt-get by typing into a terminal
sudo apt-get install [package name]
It will ask for a password, which you should use your user password. This is one of the quirks of ubuntu. Whenever someone tells you to type su to use sudo in front of all the commands.You'll probably need to use this when you actuall install something from source.

Ahem, read this::
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ticle&artid=15

checking for gcc... no
... and this is where it stopped, right? You need to install gcc. You downloaded the source and are likely to need the gnu c compiler to build your application to spit out a binary. Like the parent posted, there are solutions such as APT that allow you to install binaries. As a matter of fact, Ubuntu is bleeding edge.


Linux is just another paradigm, don't expect the same behavior in every OS you meet to perform the same functions.