What is the process of building programs from source and is there a distinct advantage from doing things that way?

1. install the build-essential package
2. download the program's source
3. extract the archive (usually with tar xvzf program-src-name.tar.gz)
4. cd to the newly created program's source dir
5. read the README.* and INSTALL files
6. install any header/development packages needed
7. run ./configure --optional-flag1 --optional-flag2
8. run make
9. run make install as root

that's the general process. specifics can and will vary, which is why you must read any provided install instructions (either on the program's web site or in the mentioned INSTALL and README files).

Compiling from source allows you to get newer versions before they make into the repositories. I had to compile ALSA myself to get sound working when I first got my laptop, but now the packages have been updated and they work great. It also (sometimes) gets you a program that is better optimized for your specific hardware.

In most cases it is far easier to install the official package, and usually there's no significant reason to want to compile from source.

Try asking a Gentoo fan for a perspective from the other, "compiling from source is the only way to go" side.

I think that was what i meant. Thx.

I know I'm a bit late on this one, but if you get dependency errors and there is an older version in the repositories, you can do an apt-get build-dep <application> to get the dependencies installed. This might be a bit ugly though if the program is large (like amarok).

Trying to install Firefox on Debian OS.
Various sources contain the same advice as AlucardZero;2917241]
including
5. read the README.* and INSTALL files
6. install any header/development packages needed
7. run ./configure --optional-flag1 --optional-flag2

But the ./configure command isn't working... am I missing something?

Are you compiling from source for any particular reason? Firefox comes with Debian (but called Iceweasel), and if somehow it's not there, it's a apt-get firefox away.

If you still want to compile it from source, you need to post what you get when you do ./configure.

I like compiling from source on occasion, but I generally prefer to install applications using aptitude or apt-get. Debian has the best package management system on the planet.