how to install tar.gz software in linux

tar.gz also known as tarball,an archive format for electronic data and software.Most Linux tarball contains a source code for software.If you are now to Linux recommended using apt-get,rpm and yum command to install all binary packages.

Tarballs are a group of files in one file.Tarball files have the extension .tar.gz,.tgz or .tar.bz2. Most open source software use tarballs to distribuate programs/source codes.

A Uncompress tarball

To uncompress them,execute the following commands depending on the extension:

#tar zxf file.tar.gz
#tar zxf file.tgz
#tar jxf file.tar.bz2
#tar jxf file.tbz2

change directory

#ls
#cd path_to_software/

B Build and install software

Generally you need to type 3 command for building and compiling software.

#./configure
#make
#sudo make install

where,

./configure will configure the software to ensure your system has the necessary functionality and libraries  to successfully compile the package

make will compile all the source code into executable binary files

Finally,make install will install the binaries and any supporting files into the appropriate locations.

C Read install /Readme file

Each tarball comes with installation and build instrucations.Open INSTALL or README file for more information

 

#vi INSTALL