why isn't there a program that will install tarballs automatically like the snap store or a .deb or a .exe

Tarballs are an archive, not an install package. Most software available in a tar file is source code and requires configuration and compiling before the binary is usable.

.deb, .rpm, etc are files that are explicitly packaged for installation by the package manager.

.tar, .tgz, .tar.gz, etc are often used to simply store and transfer files. If you are aware of the origin of tar, it began life as a tool to create tape archives, thus the name tar.

ok thanks

But what abou a program with a user friendly GUI that you could give it the tarball and the program will configure and compile it for you or am I missing something here where that just isn’t doable

It is not easily doable since the directory structure of the tar file when extracted will be unique/variable. The location where it is extracted is variable and often under the users home directory. The commands within the tarred up software may be unique. The user may want to install in a non-standard location. Etc.

If you want that try looking at just a few tar packages downloaded for installing software and see what is consistent and inconsistent, then work with a programmer to create the gui.

If you can do that then a lot of people will be grateful as they will no longer have to use the command line. But remember that errors cause problems and you will have to anticipate all that may be different and your software has to be perfect in all situations before it is ready for prime time.

hmm ok thanks man should i put this thread in the newbie thread?

Not really worth moving to different forum I'd think.
As computersavvy mentions, almost no source file is created to some template. I guess one really could make a program that makes a best guess but as far as I know no one has a working example. If all source packages were in some standard format then it would be easy.
Might be someone out there that will be excited about this and create some program, never know.

Building a program from source will require a new skill set. Usually involves installing a lot of tools to assist building and dependencies. Then you get into an issue where the package manager won't view the program for updates. It's a real linux nightmare.

It is a nightmare, but it is where linux came from. We are far beyond that now for the most part, although some distros (think LFS, Linux From Scratch) still build almost everything from source so those who really like to get into the nuts and bolts of how linux works can still play and learn.

For the most part it is seldom that a user needs software that is not already available in the repo for his distro. If they do they need to learn how to compile the tool they want.

There are actually quite a few distros that use source packages exclusively. I can think of Crux and Gentoo off the top of my head. Unlike LFS, these distros do not expect you to build packages by hand. They have automated the process. Each package comes with a build script, and then there is an overriding script or program which uses the package script to carry out the actual build.

Slackware does something similar but internally. The packages distributed to the user are binary but they are created from source using a scripting package (called a slackbuild) which is available for inspection and, if desired, modification and personal use.

You could create a system like that for yourself using one of these systems as a model.

I am not fully aware of all the distros that still use source, but I knew that LFS was one. Thanks @Hazel for the update.

The scripting used by those distros to automate the source build is similar to what the OP was asking about. Unfortunately, unless all the source packages (tarballs) from all the many different locations were constructed identical, it would still be difficult to do what he was asking about.

I assumed the OP wanted a gui.

At one time in linux there was almost no way other than to build from sources. Most of the old timers don't think twice about it. It is a skill that one could learn and use.

You still run a risk of how your system updates. It is always best to use the distro package manager. Usually you can find one distro out there that has the program you need.

There are multiple programs that do such things, but it depends on the maker of the archive.tar.xx making it compatible with those solutions. For example there is "rpmbuild" which if provided the necessary information in the archive can build an rpm from it. I'm sure similar solutions exist for .deb as well, I know they do actually, I just don't know their names etc.

But as said by others a tar file can contain anything. You can make and save a text file with the text "my name is user2222" and make it into a tar.gz for example.

It's not a nightmare, it's quite a wonderful thing actually.

Because tarballs may simply provide the necessary files, It is up to the user to extract the files for the necessary architecture and place the files into the appropriate location for the distribution in use.
Good luck with finding a tool that can handle something like vmware-view-client-linux-2006-8.0.0-16522670.tar.gz, let alone add the required but deprecated library that is not supplied.