Linux n00b here.

I've installed slackware 9.1, got it up and running, in Gnome right now.. so I managed to get this far at least.

I downloaded and installed the latest GAIM (An IM program) package, but it's unable to communicate with MSN, it gives me unsupported protocol errors.. I've managed to determine that I don't have SSL support installed, and that I require this.

When I installed GAIM, the package came with a 'configure' file. I ran:
./configre
make
make install
make clean

And life was good.

I've downloaded three different packages for SSL support (Two from the Slackware site) and none of them have a 'config' or 'configre' file anywhere in them. (Lots of config.xxxx files)

This is about where I become totally confused and lost. Help! :|
(I'm sure the answer is going to make me look like the n00b I am )

I haven't used Slackware much however I believe that it uses .tar.gz files to store its packages so you may want to try "pkginstall file.tar.gz" (I think it was called pkginstall). With luck pkginstall will will know what to do with the package.

Alternatively (if that doesn't work) then look for a config.linux and try running that as you would a configure script.

... Thanks

The file was a .tgz
The command is called pkgtool
.. and I had to be root to run it..

.. but you definately sent me in the right direction. I was clueless there.

A couple questions..
What's a .bz2 file?
Can any package be installed this way, rather than though the ./config - make process?
Will packages I install with the ./config - make process work for me properly?

<Sigh>
Such a little fish, in such a big pond.

I'm going back to playing with colors in bash

Thanks a million.

.bz2 are files compressed w/bzip, instead of gzip. it offers a little more compression. to open them

bunzip2 yourfile.bz2

for the packages, the answer is no, only packages that have been "packaged" for this type of install. have a look at

http://www.linuxpackages.net/

you may also want to have a look at checkinstall. pkgtool will find any packages that are compatible in the directory.

for other installs via ./configure, etc. they should work fine. hope that answers some ?'s.
good luck.