alright fellas....in the microsoft world you have .exe files and .ini files. In unix, is there a default extention to executing files to install new apps? Another words, I downloaded a new version of firefox for my centOS 5. its a tar file. After I extract the files how do I install it? Its there not an installer that comes with it that you just double click on? What do I need to look for in the future when I want to install new APPS? This is all pretty new to me. Thanks!

Most Linux distributions have package managers. The repository accessed by the package manager has most of the software you're likely to want. If you install through the package manager, it takes care of all the work of extracting and installing.

If the program/version you want isn't available through the package manager, I don't know of any standard for how you install it. I think it is just: look through the contents of the tar file, hope for and understandable readme and generally figure it out for yourself. Maybe someone with more experience has a better answer.

yeah, i already tried that.....the package manager does not have the software i need. already read the "readme" file. did not help.... thanks for the try though....surely u dont have to manually install everything....what happen to just clickin an exe file?

Please put your distro in your profile--or tell us what it is when you post a question.

The package manager is a powerful and yet understated feature of the typical Linux distro. You will be amazed at how easy it can make things. Always look first in the package manager.

If you're curious and want to experiment things like the Firefox tar file, then extract it and look for obvious things like a readme file.

I think FF typically comes as a .tar.gz---to extract this enter: "tar -xzvf firefox*" ...This will create a new directory. Inside you will find all the files. Hint: I think all you have to do is enter "./firefox"

"Clickin an exe" is still there---in Windows---You will discover that installing with the package manager is far better.

In Linux, it is there SOMETIMES---when using Windows apps with WINE.

We can't help you with information like this---you need to tell us what SW you are trying to install, and exactly what problems you run into.

The package manager is the way to go, because it will handle all the dependencies for you (Eg to install X, you need to have Y installed, but Y needs Z installed ... ==> "Dependency Hell" )

The tar file is probably "Source code", that you'll need to untar (uncompress) before you can read it. You can often do this with the GUI. You'll get a directory called something like some-package-2.3-4 that will contain a lot of other files and directories. Look for the one called README - read that one, and it'll tell you how to compile the sourcecode. Of course, to be able to do this, you'll need to have the compiler ( gcc ) installed, plus your kernel source, and a slew of other things. It can get very complicated ( but some people like doing this ), but if you persevere, you'll probably get it all working, and learn a lot too

But, whilst you are new, take johnsfine's advice: Use your package manager. I'm using kubuntu, and my package manager tells me I have 1334 packages installed out of a total of 18,995 available. I can search for packages by name, or functionality, and just click to install or remove them. This is awesome compared to windows. Click ... it's installed. No rebooting either!

The only disadvantage of this method is that you do not usually get the very latest version of the software you want to install, because your distro's developers wait for the bugs to be ironed out of the latest version, before including it in their distro's package manager list of available applications. So if you really want the latest versions of anything, you'll have to learn how to compile from source. There are lots of tutorials on the web, and there's even one right here on LQ: http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...ms_from_Source

if you guys look at the original post i noted that i am using centOS 5. I also noted that one of the apps is a new version of firefox. ./firefox <--- all that does is start the version of firefox i am currently using. i have already ran into 3 different apps not located in the package manager. i unzipped the files and did read a "readme" file. The instructions were not clear and i got nowhere. From what everyone is saying i am the only person that is installing application not listed in the package manager. I just need to spend more time playing with unix. this is gonna take a while. just like anything else, pratice makes perfect. thanks for the help

tredegar u were right. its making a little more sense now. when i ran the ./configure it said there was not gcc install. i am installing it now throught the package manager. ill will go from there, thanks everyone for the advice.

I hope that turns out to be not too hard for a newbie, because I'm likely to be trying it myself shortly.

It's a bit annoying that firefox upgrades are easier in Windows than in Linux. For most open source software it is the opposite.

Something important to me works correctly in Firefox 2.0.0.12 in Windows and works incorrectly in Firefox 2.0.0.11 in Mepis Linux. I actually expect the difference isn't the version of Firefox, but something about the way Firefox gets metrics from the underlying display system. But I want to at least try 2.0.0.12 to see if it makes a difference.

In Windows I got upgraded to 2.0.0.12 without even asking (which usually annoys me, but this time was convenient). In Linux I think I have to figure out how to jump ahead of the Mepis repository (probably by compiling from source code).

But if you don't have a real reason for getting ahead of the centOS repository, I won't try to discourage you from learning how, but I will suggest again that you probably don't need to.

It's not hard, it's just "different", and it takes a while for you to read up on what you are doing, so you begin to understand it.

FWIW, the first thing I (re-)compiled from source was my kernel ( I badly needed to enable some USB functions that weren't in my distro's default kernel ). Rather to my surprise, it went almost perfectly: The few error messages I received explained exactly what was wrong and what I should do to fix it. I do remember that it then took rather a long time (about three Hrs on my ancient Pentium III) to finish the compilation. Still it was quite fun watching all those "Doing this.... Doing that... Done." messages fly past on my terminal, and end up with my shiny new kernel that did exactly what I needed it to do

Now I am getting old and lazy, the package manager is my second linux-best-friend, but I still compile obscure applications from source when my package manager does not know of them. It really isn't difficult.

So, get stuck in and give it a go. It's fun, productive and educational

@cliffpett:
I know you are using centOS, but I know nothing about it, hence references to "your package manager" - I have no idea what it is called, but you seem to have found it.
No doubt there'll be a centOS support forum somewhere, where you can search for what to install with your package manager to enable you to compile from source with the minimum of trouble.
Good luck.

The one I just found wasn't source code. I don't know what cliffpett found.

But like the one cliffpett found, the one I found had a minimal, incorrect and useless readme file.

So I just went to the web site and clicked on the link for installing on Linux outside a package manager:
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Instal...ackage_manager
Those instructions look reasonable, but I haven't tried them yet.

I assume I'll end up with a 32-bit version of 2.0.0.12 instead of what I hope is a 64-bit version of 2.0.0.11. So if it fixes anything I'll probably want to start over from source anyway to get a 64-bit version.