Is this the right way?

[meniscus]

I just want to clarify how i install files

i use this method to install all .tar.gz files.
Lets just say Example.tar.gz is what im installing-its on the desktop as EXAMPLE.tar.gz

In terminal i go

BUILD_DIR=/tmp/EXAMPLEbuild
INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/EXAMPLE

mkdir -p $BUILD_DIR
cd $BUILD_DIR

Paste the EXAMPLE.tar.gz into /tmp/EXAMPLEbuild

then

tar zxf EXAMPLE.tar.gz
cd EXAMPLE
./configure --prefix=$INSTALL_DIR && make && make install


Is this the correct method of doing it and if so why when after i install the files the
/usr/local/ folder doesnt contain any of the files ive installed?

[hod139]

Try

./configure --prefix=$INSTALL_DIR && make
sudo make install

Note, I prefer to use checkinstall (have to apt-get install checkinstall first) and then the process would become:

./configure [any configure options here]
make
sudo checkinstall
and answer a few questions where the defaults are usually fine. This will create a deb file and install that, which makes copying and/or removal of the package easier.