Re: Compiling for dummies

[judith samson usaserve net]

> 
> On 02-Nov-99 Mark M. Wilson wrote:
> > Warning: this is more general than specific to Gnome hacking:
> > As an ex-Windows user (well, that's not quite true, I'm still forced to
> > use it at work until I can get my own machine) and *especially* as a non
> > programmer, I'm new to a lot of this Gnome and Linux stuff.  My question
> > is this: is there an any advantage to my trying to compile apps myself
> > from these tarballs?  Why would someone (again, a non programmer) do
> > this unless they were going to customize certain attributes? (are there
> > some apps that are only available as source tarballs, thus forcing a
> > newbie to take that dive?) And can anyone suggest simple apps to start
> > with that would be instructive in learning the various languages? In
> > other words, are there any earthworms, frogs, or fetal pigs to dissect
> > before I try my hand at brain surgery?
> 
> >The Enlightenment install readme has the best instructions i've seen so far for installing from tarballs:

These are generic installation instructions.

   The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package.
It may also create one or more `.h' files containing system-dependent
definitions.  Finally, it creates a shell script `config.status' that
./you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a
file
`config.cache' that saves the results of its tests to speed up
reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' containing compiler output
(useful mainly for debugging `configure').

   If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try
to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail
diffs or instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can
be considered for the next release.  If at some point `config.cache'
contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

   The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
called `autoconf'.  You only need `configure.in' if you want to change
it or regenerate `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
     the package.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

I was totally lost until I read these.