this is a really stupid question, but what do i need to compile
 

what do i need to compile apps? I know its stupid , but i have limited hd space and was wondering if i need gcc installed for this. If not what is it i need for compiling? I think its gcc that does the compiling because when i do ./configure, in all the messages on screen it says something about checking gcc works, but i really do not have a clue.

 

For sure you need gcc installed. Then it depends which programs you'd like to compile. If for console, it may be useful to have headers for readline and zlib. If for X, it's bigger problem, headers for KDE and GNOME are quite big. Every time you compile (usually during configure stage) it'll be stopped if the right files are not found.

Some useful progs
 

I've found that

yacc
bison
flex
glib-1.2
gtk-1.2
imlib

are used alot.

ok thanks v.much