Hello there.

I just discovered that there's a way to extract rar archives with linux. The problem is that the readme.txt file within the directory does not tell me how to install the program. I tried using the usual ./configure, but it tells me command not found. Here are the contents of this directory, i don't see what usually comes inside other packages, just the Makefile that has some commands that seem to be the way to install, but how do i run it?

428 2007-09-20 06:50 Makefile*
58233 2007-09-20 06:50 default.sfx*
210 2007-09-20 06:50 file_id.diz
6291 2007-09-20 06:50 license.txt
3183 2007-09-20 06:50 order.htm
345504 2007-09-20 06:50 rar*
70287 2007-09-20 06:50 rar.txt
877156 2007-09-20 06:50 rar_static*
1018 2007-09-20 06:50 rarfiles.lst
1050 2007-09-20 06:50 readme.txt
8957 2007-09-20 06:50 technote.txt
200080 2007-09-20 06:50 unrar*
6418 2007-09-20 06:50 whatsnew.txt

Thanks for the help.

If I had to guess, it looks like you already have a binary for "unrar". Try just running ./unrar filename.

Also, depending on what distro you're using, you can install several programs from repositories (unrar or unrar-free) to decompress rar files.

I am using Slackware 12, and i looked up any rar utilities using slapt-get, but nothing turned out. So i googled around and found this thing, but can't install it.

I suppose i need to add something to my profile so that i can use rar or unrar from anywhere using the console.

Thanks for the reply mate.

You don't have to compile anything, since it comes already precompiled (binaries). Just copy the executables in a directory in your PATH (/usr/bin for example), to make them available to use from everywhere in your file system.

That makes sense mate, thanks. Which of the files i pasted above should i copy over?

If this is your kubuntu system (you mention that you use kubuntu in your profile), you should install rar and unrar using kubuntu's packaging system, rather than downloading a binary package from some untrusted website.

From the command line just do this:
Or use the adept package manager.

I in fact use kubuntu on my laptop. I'll use that to install it there thanks. The problem i have is with the Slackware 12 distribution. As our friend here suggested, i should just copy some files to /usr/bin (directory in my PATH) so that i can use the executables from anywhere on my system using the console.

Thanks for the tip, i really appreciate it.