There are a lot of people that have problems compiling programs.Mostly it's a real simple problem - like missing dev-packages.Now a dev-package is nothing anybody would need except you develop something - that's what it sounds like anyway.
That you need it to compile a program is not known to newbies like me.I think it would be a good idea if somebody put up a how-to for compiling stuff.Not like gcc2.95 is no good for this - you need gcc3.0 and the moonphase but something that helps with the little things.Some things-you-always-wanted-to-know-but-where-afraid-to-ask kind of thing.

It is true that compiling a program might seem hard at first. But when you have done it a few times, you will notice that nearly all projects use this scheme:

./configure
make
make install

Often is also a matter of reading the README file.

A better solution would be to adopt a standard install program (a GUI install), which always looks the same, so that the users would feel confident using it.

What I am taliking about is easy stuff.Like when you install the distro of your choice the dev-packages never get installed by default for the programs you use.If you want to compile something one day for the first time there is no way it works.If somebody is new to this there is no way he/her/it can find out what is missing.Might be gnome-dev or dev-gnome or gtk-dev or gtkdev.

so maybe more of a check list of things to try?

Newbies should maybe not be confronted by compiling programs themselves; they might not even know what compiling is! If they even know the difference between a hard drive and a computer.

One annoying thing about getting all the development packages, is that they require much space, and if you have a litle hard drive, you quickly run out of space.

Come on - get real.Who has a hard drive that has a problem accomodating the little dev-packages?We live in the 40 gig+ time.
The people that do minimal installations for whatever reasons know what they are doing or end up here anyway.
As far as a check list of things to try - I really wouldn't know where to start.Maybe something like:
If you want to compile a program make sure you got
-the dev-packages installed
-a compiler installed
-look at the error messages and use your brain

Sorry - but I suck at training!!!

Not all of us like to like to buy a new PC every year - stick with your old computer. It is a waste of resources to manufacture all this technology just to throw is away after a few years (maybe even after one year ( )

As I have said a howto/tutorial/FAQ section will be coming to LQ. A lot of things were put on hold until the new machine was up. Now that it is I am going through the back log one by one. If there are any other features you would like to see here at LinuxQuestions.org feel free to post them.

--jeremy