Hi, again;

Problem: When I try installing some files using ./configure, I get an error msg stating: "No such file or directory". Then I try just make, resulting in "No targets specified and no makefile found. So, I end up with files just setting on my drive.

Can someone explain why I get these messages and the solution?

Thanks so much,

see README or INSTALL for installation instrucctiones, and verify if you are into the correct directory

Ty, celeron2002. Those are the first three things I always check. This forum and others are always my last resort for finding help.

In a lot of the files I"ve tried to install, I can find an executable or script, but no Install or Readme. Even with an executable in the file, my programs won't start.

I'm new to Linux and I love it. But I do find it more than a bit perplexing.

TYVM for your help.

Give an example of one of the programs.

did you download those as root? Try ls -l and see the output.

drwxr-xr-x 5 john root 4096 Feb 23 14:04 crack-attack-1.1.10/

where john is should be your user name, if not as root type chmod 777 *

then exit out of root and try again

Allen614, I received your mail and thank you. Please look below.


TY so much for your help. I'm getting pretty desperate (maybe frustrated is a better word) trying to install files.
debian:/tmp# ls -l
total 110500
-rw-r--r-- 1 faye faye 3846 Feb 21 12:52 GNOME 2.4 Desktop User G
uide.html
drwxr-xr-x 2 faye faye 4096 Feb 21 12:52 GNOME 2.4 Desktop User G
uide_files
-rw-r--r-- 1 faye faye 33289 Feb 22 05:30 Xinstall.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6020 Feb 23 02:54 accessing-windows.txt
drwxrwxrwx 6 77937 6014 4096 Feb 23 01:32 atk-1.2.4
-rw------- 1 faye faye 470158 Feb 21 10:35 atk-1.2.4.tar.gz
-rw------- 1 faye faye 233 Feb 22 21:57 dcopmLROkC
drwxrwxr-x 10 64245 11407 4096 Feb 7 19:36 firefox
-rw------- 1 faye faye 7673647 Feb 22 12:39 firefox-0.8-i686-linux-g
tk2+xft.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3398 Feb 23 02:58 fonts-install.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149 Feb 23 02:58 fonts-install.txt~
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 22 22:00 gcc-3.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 faye faye 249 Feb 23 00:11 gcc-3.0-url-help.html
-rw------- 1 faye faye 2078671 Feb 21 12:16 gcc-g++-3.0.tar.gz
drwxrwxrwx 11 500 500 4096 Feb 23 01:38 glib-2.1.3
-rw------- 1 faye faye 11755520 Feb 22 03:51 glib-2.1.3.tar
drwxrwxrwx 11 500 500 4096 Feb 23 01:54 glib-2.1.4
-rw------- 1 faye faye 1920346 Feb 22 04:43 glib-2.1.4.tar.gz
drwxrwxrwx 11 2181 2181 4096 Feb 22 03:46 glib-2.2.3
-rw------- 1 faye faye 2134504 Feb 21 10:32 glib-2.2.3.tar.gz
drwxrwxrwx 14 500 500 4096 Feb 23 01:51 gtk+-2.2.4
-rw------- 1 faye faye 10266628 Feb 21 10:34 gtk+-2.2.4.tar.gz
drwxrwxrwx 13 500 500 4096 Feb 23 01:57 gtk+-2.3.2
-rw------- 1 faye faye 11948824 Feb 21 10:43 gtk+-2.3.2.tar.gz
-rw------- 1 faye faye 7887252 Feb 22 04:23 gtk2-2.0.2-4.src.rpm
-rw------- 1 faye faye 613261 Feb 21 10:35 jpegsrc.v6b.tar.gz
drwx------ 2 faye faye 4096 Feb 23 05:22 ksocket-faye
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 23 04:54 ksocket-root
-rw------- 1 faye faye 505988 Feb 21 10:36 libpng-1.2.5.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 781 Feb 23 03:02 linux-comp-pw.txt
drwx------ 3 faye faye 4096 Feb 22 21:57 mcop-faye
drwxrwxrwx 8 2181 2181 4096 Feb 23 01:40 pango-1.2.5
-rw------- 1 faye faye 1304009 Feb 21 10:34 pango-1.2.5.tar.gz
drwxrwxrwx 4 2379 2379 4096 Feb 21 15:08 pkgconfig-0.14.0
-rw------- 1 faye faye 612020 Feb 21 10:36 pkgconfig-0.14.0.tar.gz
drwx------ 2 faye faye 4096 Feb 22 21:57 ssh-XXxULrV3
drwxr-xr-x 9 faye faye 4096 Feb 7 18:18 thunderbird
-rw------- 1 faye faye 33597440 Feb 21 06:29 thunderbird-0.5-i686-pc-
linux-gtk2-gnu.tar
-rw------- 1 faye faye 951139 Feb 21 10:36 tiff-v3.5.7.tar.gz
-rw------- 1 root root 0 Feb 21 11:49 time7UUjJZ
-rw------- 1 faye faye 625 Feb 21 16:14 wine.log.0K8aHj
-rw------- 1 faye faye 625 Feb 21 16:14 wine.log.8TxauZ
-rw------- 1 faye faye 830944 Feb 21 15:57 winesetuptk_0.6.0b-1_i38
6.deb
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 21 13:29 xfce-4.0.3.1

Deos this mean that everywhere my name is found, I should be root? If so, then I need to chmod 777 each file? All times I've tried installing, I've been logged in as root. Since I'm so very new to Linux, I always log in as root with each session. So, how did all those "faye's" get in there? Actually, the majority of these files are ones I'm having probs with.

Logging in as root is a very bad idea IMHO. You can chmod 777 all these files but they will still have root ownership. Firefox should be downloaded into your /home directory and untarred there. It requires no compile so it should start with /home/faye/firefox/firefox.

Old Chinese proveb: Fool with root,kill the tree.

Here is a really good read for Linux too.
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz