How to install .tar files
 

how do u install .tar files content? - i know how to aunzip it (tar -xzf file.tar.gz) but how do u know which files goes where in the system folders?

ok here's the specific, -
i've installed amsn for testing and it requires a 'tls' package, the amsn application asks for arch and then automatically downloads this - http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourc...nux-x86.tar.gz .

I've unpacked it and it has a folder tls1.4 with 3 files in it, libtls1.4.so, pkgIndex.tcl and tls.tcl . where do this files go? do their extensions give them specific folders? or the the entire 3 file folder must go somewhere?

.tar is just an extension meaning that it was a socalled 'tarball', a wrap of files. It doesn't define what you should do with them. e.g. I could tar up my whole home directory as one file to store it somewhere, in a file home.tar and then gzip it to take less space (tar doesn't compress) in a file home.tar.gz

But, as I said theyre just packaging methods, so the internals can vary alot. Most likely you downloaded the source code package, so the internals are files that are needed for a compile of the software. Source packages usually have a file called README that tells you what the package is and what to do with it (sometimes also install instructions) and sometimes also a file called INSTALL that gives details on how to exactly install the software. _READ_ those, and youll know all you need to know.. (:

e.g.
Also, googling around will give you lots more info, but this is the gist of it. Using search here at LQ can also give you good results, I strongly recomend using it as this has probably been asked several hundred times already (;

edit: the tls package seems a bit scarse for a typical package, so im guessing its just some addon. The amsn site will probably tell you more on what to actually do with that specific package. There also might be rpm versions available for you distribution, searching for those might save you the hassle..

That is a basic. just learn these commands:

tar xvjpf tarball_name - you know that
then you have to cd into the extracted dir and then type
./configure - this will conf your prog
make - this will compile your prog
Then type su and roots password, or login as root and in that dir run
make install - this will install the package

I use gentoo, in which all you have to do is type emerge packet_name to install a prog.

When you uncompressed a .tar file, a directory is created with the same name as the .tar file. change directory in this one. Make a list directory content (ls). You should see a file called README.

This file gives you further information on how to finish the installation of the program.

I hope the informations are helpful.

You say your using fedora core, you might want to use Fedora's package management system. Basically, it will be easier to install programs, and will be quicker (because you don't have to build it yourself, i.e. compiling). I don't use fedora, but I'm guessing it also organises what packages are installed, like add/remove programs in the Windows control center.

Have a look here http://www.fedorafaq.org/#getsoftware. Hopefully that helps.