When ever i try to install comething by extracting it and using ./configure to install it i get an error message.

This is what happens:

dhcppc1:/home/jonathan/xchat-2.4.0 # ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... no
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.

This happens when i try to install any program that uses this method.

Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

Thanks

you use mandrake and your posting in the suse forum ?

yea you need to download and install GCC, a c compiler.

if your really using mandrake than just google it, if your using suse i can give you an ftp location and you can use yast to get it + it's dependancies.

I am using suse 9.1, Mandrake was the distrobution i started out with when i first switched to linux

ahh okay well give me like 2 mins i'll make a post and explain how to get the required files.

okay well.....here we gooooooooooo

open up yast: it's in the main menu under system: (control center) YaST

click on change source of installation.

yast2 will pop up.

click on add

select ftp

in name server put this: ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/

then click okay

then click finish.

YaST should still be open...and you should see on your screen "install and remove software"

click on that...yast 2 will open up again

it will show "Reading Package Information; one moment"...this can take up to 10 minutes on broadband !!! :-\ anywho just wait it out.

when it finaly comes up in the upper left hand side make the filter "search" type in gcc

on the right hand side a list will grow...check off "gcc the gnu c compiler and support files"

(also while your here in the search clear the gcc and type in make....select "make the gnu make command" )

then click on accept in the bottom right

yast will do it's thing...

then retry what you were doing. what kernel as you using ? the one that comes with it, or did you update it...because i also reccomend download the kernel source...i can explain that also..

i am using the kernal that came with suse9.1. Could you explain how to install the update for that please.
Thanks

Shouldn't he add

ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/

so that when 9.1 is no longer the current version, YaST will still work correctly? I'm a noob as well, so I don't know either

well yea.... true...but right now it makes n difference ?