Ok, so like %70 of files on the internet for Linux are "tar.gz" files. I can handle RPM's quite easily. But is there a way to make a "tar.gz" file a RPM? Or what exactly do I do with it?

Tar.gz files are compressed files, like .ZIP files, sortof. Normally you'd want to download them to a sensible place (I download mine to /home/gsewell/files/downloads) and then un-targz them. I usually use the ol' tar zxpvf something.tar.gz to do it. This creates a newdirectory (with the same name as the targz file) and unpacks all the files to it. If you go into that dir you should find files like README and INSTALL. These should detail how to install the software.

Oh, and quite often you'll also find .TAR.BZ files. To unpack these, you'd do the same, but replace the Z with a J.

Hope this helps.

for a good understanding of how to deal with tarballs (archives compressed by tar), read the man pages for the tar command. as Thymox pointed out, the tarball usually contains the source code for the application. to find out about installing the program, read through the INSTALL and README files that are included in the tarball.

Ooooooh this is neat!

Under Gnome I added the "tar.gz" extension under MIME and now when I double-click a "tar.gz" file it automatically extracts it to a directory. My only grip is that it extracts into my home directory, no matter where the file is. Is there a switch no make it extract where the file was saved?

Possibly by right clicking and seeing if that is an option. That is how KDE's ark does it.

Cool

bob.tar.gz

tar -xzvf bob.tar.gz
cd bob
./configure
make
make install

please avoid following those directions as those are not always the case. especially when you need to configure an application with special instructions. also many times there may be a 'make test' or 'make check' or 'make clean' command you should run. please disregard mace's post and stick with what i said:

while it's true that you need to always read the README files i've found that what i suggested works with learning how to untar a program.

don't disregard any suggestions. learn but trial and error.

thank you.