installing programs in linux

[Dswissmiss]

ok, i'm a complete beginner using mandy 8.2, and was wondering how i can install programs (such as gaim or limewire) onto my computer. i realized that it doesn't work like windows, where you just double klick on the icon, and the installation process begins. i downloaded gaim and limewire into the my documents folder, and can see a .gz icon for gaim, and a .bin icon for limewire. could someone please walk me through this, or send me a link on it, cause i couldn't find anything on the tutorial websites.

thanx
Dswissmiss

[OOPS!]

Hi,

What you have are two different file compresstion formats. The first one ends in .tar.gz and is often called a tarball. To uncompress the tarball, open a terminal and type "tar xzvf FILENAME" ( without quotes). The xzvf part are just switches to show you what is happening. Untarring will create another folder for you with the flie name of the program. Now you want to open a filemanager and look in that folder because you will find files in there that will give you specific instructions on how to install that program and any other info the author thinks you might need. The files you are looking for are generally called readme or install. The steps for installing in kind of a quick over veiw are, ./configure, ./make, and ./make install (this last command has to be done as root). Though these commands can vary. So make sure you check all the readme files.

According to Limewire just: Linux - Open a shell and cd (change directory) to the directory where you downloaded the installer. At the prompt type: sh ./LimeWireLinux.bin

Hope this helps you out!

OOPS!

[Dswissmiss]

hi OOPS! thanx for the help.
i untarred the file, klicked on the new folder, and typed ./configure, but i get an error saying that "no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH.
in one of the readme folders i was told i needed the new version of gtk, downloaded that plus atk, and glib, but get the same error for all three...any ideas, or am i doing something else wrong. in all three cases, when i read the Readme file, i am told to run the ./configure script...(exactly as you said) do i need to compile a CVS version instad?

really appreciate the help
Dswissmiss

ps. how do i logon as root. i am the only user on this computer, so i guess i would like to be root at all times, the mandrake install made me give my full name and username, and it's what i use to log on to KDE, dont even know if i am root or not
sorry for being so vague, i really dont have a clue...just gona go eat dinner now...

[OOPS!]

Hi,

No, you don't want to be root all the time. It's too easy to make fatal mistakes that way. Plus it is a terrible security risk. Only be root when needed and then only for as long as needed.

OK let's open a terminal. Then type "slocate gcc"
(again without the quotes). If gcc is installed it will show you where is can be found on your system. gcc is a c compiler by the way, and what the config script is looking for. If it is not found, which I think will be the case, you will need to install it. The easeist way to do that is to use the software manager to find it and install it. I think it can be found on disc1. Hopefully that will solve your trouble.

To log in as root, you can do that one of two ways. At the login screen, type root and the password for it and hit enter (you did setup the root account and password I hope. Mandy should have asked you for that before you setup your user account). that will take you to the root desktop. Be VERY careful as root. You are all powerful and can really trash your system in no time flat. Linux will never ask you if you are sure like windows. It will just simply do it. And you can't go back.

The other way to be root while on any user desk top is to open a terminal and at the CLI type "su", hit enter and then type the password (this is often called suing to root). This will give you a prompt that will look like this [root@localhost username]. you can then issue any command with root power.

OOPS!

[Dswissmiss]

ah yes! thanx OOPS!

one last question: i downloaded Mozilla, and installed it using the mozilla installer. when it tiries to install it into the Root Directory/usr/local, i get an error message saying that i have no access rights (cant remember exact error, but i think its because im not in root). how would i go about installing it in the local folder? when i sign on as root, i cant see any of my downloaded files.
i'm assuming that if i install mozilla in the local folder, ill be able to open it in the panel. (i currently have it installed in the documents folder.

thanx for your help
Dswissmiss

[OOPS!]

Hi,

Yep you need to be root to do the install. I've never used the install script for Moz, I just download the rpms myself. But, Open a terminal, su to root. Then cd to the directory the install script is in and then run it. It should install to your /home/username directory.

A word of caution, make sure you remove any prior install of Mozilla. It don't like sharing space with two different versions. Plus they recommend you run Mozilla once as root before running it as a user. I don't really know why, but hey, if it makes them happy.

OOPS!

[Dswissmiss]

hi again

sorry for all the questions...I recently installed mandrake 9.0 and figured out how to install flashplayer and other files, such as a .rpm.bin file, but LimeWire.bin still wont work. I get an error message saying:
No Java virtual machine could be found from your PATH environment variable. You must install a VM prior to running this program.
I searched for VM on rpmdrake, but didnt find anything...any ideas

thank you
Dswissmiss

ok update... I went to Java.sun.com and downloaded j2re and j2sdk...(one of them is the virtual machine), but limewire is still not working. i guess ill play arround with it to see if i can figure this out.