Hi, I just recently got my hands on redhat and am trying to figure out how to use it... and one of my problems is i have no understanding of how installing programs works. In windows its just a simple double click on the install file, but looking on forums I typically see

./configure
make
make install

what do these commands mean? I'd rather figure them out than just blindly execute them.

Also, in trying to install xmms I found that i need glib. I installed glib2.3.1 but it still says i am missing a glib-config file. Looking on other threads on this forum, I figure that I probably did not install glib in the right place (usr/src). So where should i install it?

One last thing. When I install programs under one user, I find that i can't access that program as another user. Is there a way to make a program accessible to all user accounts?

This is the typical installation procedure for programs that you compile from source. Some software dev's provide you with static binaries but when you run these commands you are building a custom version of the software using your machine.

Most ./configure commands can be run with the --help flag to give a brief overview of the options in the configuration script.
Also read the README and INSTALL files in these directories because they can give you some clues as to where this software is installed by default. Usually you can change the directory that you're installing to using the prefix flag
I believe if you install to /usr/local/bin then anyone can run the program. (Some one correct me if I'm off base here.)

Hope this helps a little.

In Windows the easy way to install a program is with a binary
called an executable or EXE. It looks like this: program.exe

For Red Hat's disto I bellive the binary is RPM. It looks like this program.rpm

In windows you use Install Shield to install programs.

In Redhat & many distros you use KDE's Package Manager
(K package) program found in "system" folder on your K-menu (like start for Windows).
Note: Only works for binary's not source files.

If you didn't make KDE your default window manager, do it!

(But that just a recommendation for begineers, don't use it if wan't to do it the hard way.)

To learn more type RPM's, .rpm, or *.rpm in Google Search.

RPM: Rapid Package Management (I think)
An rpm file is not a binary program. It is just a package that manages installing the binary executable and any of it's dependencies.

Many distro's have custom packages for example, I use Slackware, the packages that I use to install binary programs end in ".tgz". Check your distro's documentation to find out which package managment format they use.

Packages are very convenient when you don't want to have to compile a lot of programs. Say you have a mediocore processor and can't spare the time to compile every program from source, packages are great in a situation like that.

Basically the install process works as follows.

./configure runs a script that looks around your system to make sure that any packages your new program needs are installed. It also tries to decide where to put files and makes sure you have the software needed to correctly compile the program.

make is a program used to simplify compilation of complex programs. In the source directory of the new program is a file called Makefile. This has a bunch of rules for building different parts of the program. One rule in particular is called 'all' and makes the entire program. This rule is run when you type 'make' or 'make all'.

make install uses a particular make rule called 'install'. You don't need to restrict make rules to compiling stuff; you can execute any command from a makefile.

Hope that clears things up for you.

Actually, it's the "Redhat Package Management" system.

Otherwise, you covered it rather well, for an overview.

For the original poster, with RedHat, use RedHat RPMs, and install using the "rpm" command line, or use "YUM" and its friends.

BTW: why are you using RedHat? Use Fedora Core! RedHat is quite outdated now, unless you are talking about the Enterprise version, for commercial use. Fedora Core is the "home user" version of Redhat.

wow thanks for all the info guys/girls.

one last unanswered question tho: Is there a way to make a program accessible to all users once you've installed it? say, if i installed firefox under user1 and then want to be able to use it as user2/3/4/....

The reason i'm still using redhat is that the linux book i am reading is based on redhat 9. Once i've finished learning the basics i'm gonna see about installing Fedora. Is it about the same?

Yes It's currently the free version of RedHat.

To answer your other question,1st group your users together In a group that you want to use the program. With the /etc/group file.

2nd Change the permissions of the program for the group to read, and execute it(you might look up that in the book).