I m totally new to LINUX and after getting a little familiar with it, i tried installing some appz like Real Player and WINE etc! But when i run the CONFIGURE file it starts but then gives this error:


No acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

Pls help..

I am running RED HAT 7...

Redhat 7 is getting pretty old now, and the C compiler is probably too old. Try to get your hands on a more recent distro like the latest Fedora Core 5 distro available here.

HTH
Baldrick

I know Red Hat 7 is outdated, but since i just wanted to check out linux i just installed whatever i had! So can someone pls suggest a soln to my problem..

I will be getting the SUSE 10 version soon but till then i want to be able to use RED HAT 7..

You probably should listen to baldrick's advice and start using a newer distro. But, if you really want to stick with redhat then go download a newer version of your C compiler. You're probably using gcc so go to http://www.gcc.gnu.org and download the latest version and install it.

ok thanx i'll try that...

Just for the record, I've always found that upgrading gcc is a royal pain and tends to break more things than it fixes ... can you say dependancy hell?

If you just want to check out Linux, then why not try one of the live distros? You can try it without installing anything.

HTH
Baldrick

ok now i have installed Red Hat 9, and i was able to install rpm packages. But i cant install any other format file such as: .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 etc....

This is how i tried to install those files:
I extracted the files and then typed: ./configure in terminal, but it gave that same error: No acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

as for the site: http://www.gcc.gnu.org, its not working..

Pls pls pls help... I really wanna get a good hang of linux...

Try http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/
Gnu has changed the way pages are listed in their index.

Why not just listen to the advice you were given and install a newish distro like Fedora Core 5. Redhat 9 is also very old and is no longer supported or receiving updates from Redhat. You will have problems getting software to install or work properly on Redhat 9 because most packagers and developers don't bother supporting it anymore.

ok i have installed gcc and the C compiler problem is solved... Thanx..

NOw when i gave: ./configure command, it worked fine..
Then i gave : make command, and it went on with many many lines, and kept on running for abt more than half hour, so i had to Kill it manually after waiting for half hour! Is this the normal way, or did something went wrong?
Pls help again..

How long make takes to run depends on the program you are trying to install, and the hardware you are running (CPU, RAM etc). Half an hour seems like a long time, but as long as it is still doing something, then maybe you should let it run and view any output at the end.

HTH
Baldrick

I was installing Wine software and that make command just kept on running... Ok then i'll give it another try...

And i have dnlded Firefox for Linux(again in tar.gz format) and when i type: it directy opens Firefox browser! So is'nt there a way to make an executable icon for that, which will run firefox on clicking rather than typing its command in terminal??

Firefox installs in a very roundabout manner compared to most apps (where in you would simply compile the source). I am honestly still a bit unsure of how to install Firefox manually. Anybody?
As for WINE, it takes for-freakin-ever to compile (but, imo, it is very much worth it). Give it time. WIth all the config flags I set when I compiled it the last time, running make took me about 2 hours, as I recall. So just be patient. It's working as quickly as it can. Besides, when you build from source, you don't have to mess with reconfiguring an app once you RPM or DEB it. Much less hassle.

K, by my understanding (I have been experimenting since my previous post) you just unpack the .tar.gz file wherever you want and run ./firefox. The whole thing is pretty self-contained, excepting the fact that it places a hidden directory in your home directory for configuration and whatnot. The only benefit there would be to actually installing would be that it would install the bin (the file named "firefox") into /usr/bin or some place like it. Try this: Unpack firefox.tar.gz (or whatever the newest package is named) to /home/user1/ (user1's home directory). Right-click the desktop and select "create launcher...". In the "name", type "Firefox". In "command", type the path to "firefox", i.e. "/home/user1/firefox/firefox". Make sure the "application" box is ticked (or select "Application" in the "type" dropdown menu, depending on your Linux flavour) then hit ok. Now double-click the new icon/launcher named Firefox, and it should work.

I've had programs take anywhere from 5 or less minutes up to an hour to compile during the "make" process, depending on what the program is. If you're not getting errors, let it finish, even if it seems like it's taking a long time.