Fedora Linux

Most open source software follows a certain set of conventionsone that the community has adopted as a de facto standard:

? The software is packaged in compressed tar format ( .tar.gz or .tgz ).

? A configure script is provided, which analyzes the system (by trying to compile many tiny programs and attempting to locate certain programs and files). After this analysis, a Makefile is produced.

? The Makefile contains the logic to build and to install the package.

? Basic documentation, including pointers and licensing information, is contained in files with uppercase names such as README , INSTALL , TODO , and LICENSE .

To install software distributed this way:

1. Obtain the compressed tar file (or tarball ) containing the source. You can use a browser to find and download open source software from sites such as http://sourceforge.net .

2. Unpack the tarball:
3. $ tar xvzf xmorph_20040717.tar.gz
4. xmorph-current/
5. xmorph-current/Makefile.in
6. xmorph-current/gtkmorph/
7. xmorph-current/gtkmorph/ChangeLog
8. xmorph-current/gtkmorph/Makefile.in
9. xmorph-current/gtkmorph/README
10. xmorph-current/gtkmorph/Makefile.am
11. ...(Lines snipped)...
12.

13. If the file is compressed with bzip2 (usually indicated by a filename that ends in .tar.bz , .tar.bz2 , .tbz , .tb2 , or .tbz2 ), use the j option instead of z to decompress:

14. $ tar xvjf xmorph_20040717.tar.bz2

Most tarballs will unpack into their own directory, but some badly packaged ones may not, and unpacking them will leave dozens of files in your current directory. Use tar's t option instead of the x to see the table of contents before unpacking:

$ tar tvzf xmorph_20040717.tar.gz

1. Change to the new directory:

2. $ cd xmorph-current

3. Review the notes that are provided with the software (such as the README and INSTALL files).

4. If there is a script named ./configure , run it:

5. $ ./configure
6. checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
7. checking whether build environment is sane... yes
8. checking for gawk... gawk
9. ...(Lines snipped)...
10. The Makefile will build morph.
11. The Makefile will build xmorph.
12. The Makefile will build gtkmorph.
13. configure: creating ./config.status
14. config.status: creating m4/Makefile
15. config.status: creating po/Makefile.in
16. config.status: creating Makefile
17. config.status: creating doc/Makefile
18. config.status: creating libmorph/Makefile
19. config.status: creating morph/Makefile
20. config.status: creating xmorph/Makefile
21. config.status: creating gtkmorph/Makefile
22. config.status: creating glade1/Makefile
23. config.status: creating glade2/Makefile
24. config.status: creating tkmorph/Makefile
25. config.status: creating plyview/Makefile
26. config.status: creating config.h
27. config.status: executing depfiles commands
28. config.status: executing default-1 commands
29. config.status: creating po/POTFILES
30. config.status: creating po/Makefile

31. Use make to build the software using the Makefile :

32. $ make
33. make all-recursive
34. make[1]: Entering directory Q/tmp/xmorph-current'
35. Making all in m4
36. ...(Lines snipped)...
37. if /bin/sh ../libtool --mode=compile gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I..
38. -g -O2 -Wall -DREAL=double -DRGBA_MESH_WARP -g -O2 -Wall -MT
39. my_malloc.lo -MD -MP -MF '.deps/my_malloc.Tpo'
40. -c -o my_malloc.lo Qtest -f 'my_malloc.c' || echo './'Qmy_malloc.c;
41. then mv -f '.deps/my_malloc.Tpo' '.deps/my_malloc.Plo';
42. else rm -f '.deps/my_malloc.Tpo'; exit 1;
43. fi
44. ...(Lines snipped)...
45. make[2]: Leaving directory Q/tmp/xmorph-current'
46. make[1]: Leaving directory Q/tmp/xmorph-current'

If you have a multiprocessor or multicore system, use make -j3, assuming it's not also a multiuser machine and you don't mind two cores/CPUs being utilized at 100 percent. 

1. If make was successful, use make install to install the software:

2. # make install
3. Making install in m4
4. make[1]: Entering directory Q/tmp/xmorph-current/m4'
5. make[2]: Entering directory Q/tmp/xmorph-current/m4'
6. ...(Lines snipped)...