Here is the scoop. Everything was going just fine, when all of a sudden I can't compile programs to install them.

When I download a TAR file, it unzips with no problem with TAR ZXVF [filename].tar.gz

When I CD to the directory and type in ./configure I get this:

[DAKPluto@localhost qtella-0.5.3]$ ./configure
loading cache ./config.cache
checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking whether make sets ${MAKE}... yes
checking for working aclocal... missing
checking for working autoconf... missing
checking for working automake... missing
checking for working autoheader... missing
checking for working makeinfo... missing
checking for c++... no
checking for g++... no
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C++ compiler (gcc ) works... no
configure: error: installation or configuration problem: C++ compiler cannot create executables.

I installed the RPM packages for the latest version of GCC, and that did not help
I am using RedHat 7.3 Any suggestions would be helpful, Thanks

is gcc in your path?

I don't know. How do I do that?

I'm new to Linux in case you didn't notice.

I guess the proper way to phrase the question is:

How do I put GCC in my path, and what is the "path"?

Well do this to make sure that you have gcc:

open up a console, and type this in:

gcc

then try

g++

you should get a message like this

gcc: No input files --> For gcc
g++: No input files --> For g++

Any message other then Command not Found is good

If you got a command not found then maybe the path where gcc is installed is not in your $PATH.

$PATH is just a variable located in /etc/profile file, that tells Linux where to look for commands.

so what you need to know is find out where the gcc executable is located.

Do this:

which gcc --> Note the location that you get
which g++ --> Note the location that you get

then edit your etc/profile file

you should something that looks like this in it:

$PATH = .......

make sure that the directory that has your gcc + g++ in it is listed in there. If it is not then add a ";" after the last directory, and add the directory where g++, and gcc are after the ";"

Okay, which GCC gave me usr/bin for my location
I checked my profile and this is what I found:

# /etc/profile

# System wide environment and startup programs, for login setup
# Functions and aliases go in /etc/bashrc

pathmunge () {
if ! echo $PATH | /bin/egrep -q "(^|$1($|" ; then
if [ "$2" = "after" ] ; then
PATH=$PATH:$1
else
PATH=$1:$PATH
fi
fi
}

# Path manipulation
if [ `id -u` = 0 ]; then
pathmunge /sbin
pathmunge /usr/sbin
pathmunge /usr/local/sbin
fi

pathmunge /usr/X11R6/bin after

unset pathmunge

# No core files by default
ulimit -S -c 0 > /dev/null 2>&1

USER="`id -un`"
LOGNAME=$USER
MAIL="/var/spool/mail/$USER"

HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname`
HISTSIZE=1000

if [ -z "$INPUTRC" -a ! -f "$HOME/.inputrc" ]; then
INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc
fi

export PATH USER LOGNAME MAIL HOSTNAME HISTSIZE INPUTRC

for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do
if [ -r "$i" ]; then
. $i
fi
done

unset i

Where do I put the location of GCC? Also of note, g++ brought up a command not found

Which g++ brought up this:

[DAKPluto@localhost DAKPluto]$ which g++
/usr/bin/which: no g++ in (/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/DAKPluto/bin:/home/DAKPluto/bin)