Linux
gcc/g++
Download OpenCV source codes (.tar.gz)
Root user
tar zxvf opencv-1.0.0.tar.gz; cd opencv-1.0.0 ./configure make make install
General user
tar zxvf opencv-1.0.0.tar.gz; cd opencv-1.0.0 ./configure --prefix=$HOME/usr make make install # configuration export PATH=$HOME/usr/bin/:$PATH export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/usr/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/usr/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH export MANPATH=$HOME/usr/man:$MANPATH
Compilation is as
g++ `pkg-config --cflags opencv` foo.c -o foo `pkg-config --libs opencv`
It must be equivalent with
g++ -I$HOME/usr/include/opencv foo.c -o foo -L$HOME/usr/lib -lcxcore -lcv -lhighgui -lcvaux -lml
where $HOME/usr is the prefix specified at the ./configure step.