I downloaded thunderbird, extracted it and then put "thunderbird" in the terminal as it told me to do. When i did though, the next line was this:
bash: thunderbird: command not found
So what did i do wrong or what do i do?

When you say you extracted it, did you follow through installation steps too? There should be a README or INSTALL file within the directory of extracted files for Thunderbird. I can't remember if there's a specific install script for Thunderbird, if not you usually need to run through: to install it. Once installed, you would probably launch it with rather than just "thunderbird".

Sorry, but when i typed ./configure it said
Is it that i should add something to it? I just don't understand!

what distro are you using?
probably there's a package around for your distro that's easy to install

Thanks everybody but I've figured it out...

Good man, enjoy Thunderbird! You might want to make a quick note next time letting others know what you did to get it working, even if it's just something simple like change into the thunderbird directory before running ./configure (which I'm guessing is all it was) incase people search for a similar problem.

What did you do? I am having the same problem...

Well... I asked and somebody told me to type in
apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird
into the console...

I'm keeping this thread alive since I think there was no real solution or explanation described, though it might be helpful to others if they're having similar trouble.

Here are a couple of notes that might be relevant:

- When you downloaded the original file (something like thunderbird-1.0.7.tar.gz), you should have first extracted the contents of that file (it's a gzipped file, which is like a .zip file, which you might be familiar with from other operating systems.) Depending on the desktop manager you're using (e.g. KDE or Gnome), you might be able to right-click on the file in your file browser and select "Extract" to do this. Otherwise, the next best thing is to do it at the command line, i.e. (don't type "#" - that's the prompt):

# gunzip thunderbird-1.0.7.tar.gz

(type "man gunzip" for more info. on how to use this command.)

- You should now have a bunch of files in a new directory, likely called thunderbird/, including an exectutable file called simply thunderbird. (Post a question if you don't know how to verify this.) If you switch to this directory using "cd", and then type "thunderbird" at the prompt, the installation should happen.

[Note to fouldsy: The default linux download does not include source file or make files, but rather includes compiled .so files. The shell script "thunderbird" copies files about, but I don't believe it builds anything. Also, there is a read-me file, but it just directs you to the T-bird webpage, which simply instructs users to type "thunderbird" at the command prompt, with no other instruction. I can't help but feel the good folks at Mozilla.org could have been a little more helpful with their instructions.]

- Now, assuming the PamyIZ had done the steps above, the only reason why the response "command not found" would come about would be that the current directory is not in the search path, which is typically the case for the root user - maybe PamyIZ was logged on as root, hoping to do a system-wide installation?? The cure is to type "./thunderbird", which tells the shell to look in the current directory for a file called "thunderbird".

[Note: if you're wondering why this is, the reason is that root has very powerful, and hence very dangerous permissions. One way for hackers do things they shouldn't is for them to write a hostile script and to give it the name of common Linux command. Then, if root happens to type that command while in the hacker's directory - maybe while doihg some administrative work - the script will execute, possibly doing things that it wouldn't have for the ordinary user.]

Hope this helps,
Bruce

apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird would I think have downloaded a new copy of thunderbird and then installed it which is fine but not, I don't think the correct answer here which is:

after extracting change to the direct the files were extracted to and run ./install (or whatever the installl command is in this case, check by doing ls)

Now if you ran install as root thunderbird should be available to any user simply by typing thunderbird. If you ran it as yourself then it will probably install under your own home directory and you will have to either cd to it or type the full path if you want to run it.

I switched to the directory where I extracted the thunderbird files and when I type in "./thunderbird" it says

./thunderbird-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I have also tried typing just "thunderbird", but that gives me:

bash: ./Thunderbird: No such file or directory

I simply extracted Thunderbird to a directory under /usr/lib (same location as my Opera browser), and I use the thunderbird shell script to kick it off. Seems to work fine, except I can't get http links in Thunderbird to kick off Opera to open the link (separate issue).

I have extracted the mozilla files to the directory /usr/lib. It created a folder called "mozilla-1.7.12" (/usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12). I then "cd" to the mozilla-1.7.12 folder. When I type "./thunderbird" it tells me "no such file or directory". When I type in "thunderbird", it tells me "command not found". When I look through the mozilla folder, I don't see a thunderbird file. I'm not sure if it matters, but I did all this while logged in as root to eliminate any permission issues.

Thank you for any help.

On a side note is the /usr/lib directory like the program files in Windows?

Are you getting confused with mozilla and thinderbird? I think that extracting thunderbird files creates a directory called thunderbird. Are you sure you have not downloaded mozilla. What does ls in your mozilla-1.7.12 folder show? What happens if you run ./mozilla?

Thunderbird didnt have anything to compile or setup - it was just a matter of extracting the contents of the .tar.gz, and clicking the thunderbird file in the extracted directory. You could always create a Link to application.