It is not a good idea, unless you have some way to log or track the install.

Well... yeah, but maybe not always -- I don't recall seeing a "configure-make-make install" that doesn't have a "make uninstall" as part of it, plus, by default, those almost always install in /usr/local (unless you override it). If a package is using autoconf and automake, those are built in.

Yeah, it's far, far better to use src2pkg (or, better, a SlackBuild), but, you know, in a pinch.

My one complaint about both src2pkg and SlackBuilds.org stuff is that they don't install in /usr/local by default and I wind up editing or exporting arguments to force them to install into /usr/local or, in some cases, /opt rather than the root tree.

Just a thought.

I actually prefer it that way, because I use /usr/local for my own home-grown stuff, and it's a good way of keeping my stuff separate from 3rd party stuff. Each to their own, I guess.

Thanks for the answers, I ended using makepkg to make the tgz and I put all the stuff in /usr/locals.