Where can I go to find a how-to, or a step-by step instruction to download and install an application from a source like Freshmeat, or one of those kinds of internet sources. I am somewhat familiar with the Linux command line, but I am by no means an expert, please be patient with me ! I will also need to know how to insert it onto the menu. I use ICEWM or fluxbox, for window managers, I can change at login for whichever window manager would be the easiest for this exercise. TIA

here is a howto

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...on_From_Source


but why dont you use synaptic instead , or get a .deb package ?

I need to know, just in case there is something that isn't available from Debian And, I'm trying to improve my understanding and use of the CLI, rather than the GUI. Thanks.

Try using apt-cache search <application>, replacing <application> with the name of the software you are looking for. If you find what you want, then try apt-get install <application>

A nice application for installing packages is checkinstall. After you uncompress the package and run ./configure, and resolve any dependencies, then you can run checkinstall to compile the package and make a .deb. By default it installs into /usr/local/ so you may have to adjust your path.

Another way is to run dh_make after uncompressing the source, but it will enforce Debian's strict package requirements. Package name is all lower case with version number, like so; package-1.4.7. After running dh_make, you can run dpkg-buildpackage to compile and make your .deb. The .deb will install into /usr/bin so you don't have to adjust your path, but you will still have to find any missing dependencies yourself before dpkg_buildpackage will compile successfully.