PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] Insalling



ashu_tears
October 29th, 2011, 02:58 PM
Is there any simple idea about how to install any downloaded program in Ubuntu 11.04?

haqking
October 29th, 2011, 03:01 PM
Is there any simple idea about how to install any downloaded program in Ubuntu 11.04?

People are often scared or confused by installing software in Linux, there is no real reason it is usually straight forward.

First of all always search in the Software Centre or Synaptic Package manager to see if software is already in the repos for easy install or from the developers website where a .deb might be available again for easy install (like a .exe in windows)

You can also use Gdebi package installer or look at dpkg, or aptitude or apt-get.

apt-get is best if you can find a PPA for the application you want

If you have to download it as a package it will often come down in a package/archive format such as xxxxx.tar or xxxx.tar.gz etc.

These are analogous to windows .zip files but with varying compression denoted by the .xx after the .tar such as .tar.gz where .gz is the compression. A .tar file means Tape Archive which is legacy from UNIX when things were backed up to tape drives. The 2 or 3 letters after the .tar refer to the type of compression used to pack down the archive.

See here for dealing with these files https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FileCompression

It is often just a simple case of right clicking in your GUI on the file and choosing extract then it will be unpackaged to a directory.

The contents might simply be a .deb file as i said for easy installation see here:

http://linux.about.com/od/ubuntu_doc/a/ubudg21t2.htm

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware

If the contents is source code then you need to compile this, this is where people often get stumped and is dependant on the developer and the documentation provided, once unpackaged there is often a README text file or a INSTALL file which you should read as it will often contain clear and concise instructions on what to do.

If not then you need to figure it out, see here for information on compiling from source:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingEasyHowTo
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingSoftware

then you should be set ;-)

Have fun

Regards

haqking

collisionystm
October 29th, 2011, 03:02 PM
Is there any simple idea about how to install any downloaded program in Ubuntu 11.04?

I guess the big question would be, what kind of program?