Compiling software from source - a rough & ready guide

Preliminaries

1) Obtain the source code for the application you need. It will be in compressed format so the next step is

2) Unzip it. Navigate to the folder and read any documentation that may help you. It may save you a lot of time!

Build your software

Though there are are different systems for building software (scons springs to mind) the most common method is as follows. Open a terminal and navigate to the folder containg the source code. Run the following commands:

(You can replace ./configure with dynemodconf $MODULE_NAME)If you complete these steps your software should be installed & ready to use. You will need to start it from a terminal with the program name - editing dyne:bolic menu's is another topic. If you need to remove it just use:

Hints tips & troubleshooting

* You can get a useful list of options for the configure stage by typing

* If your software fails to build look at your error messages.

Packaging

Dyne:bolic includes the program checkinstall that allows you to make software packages that can be used to install your program on a different machine without having to compile the software from scratch.

To do this simply substitute the command checkinstall for the make install stage.

I have found that creating & using Slackware packages work very well with Dyne:bolic. They are installed with the command installpkg and removed with the command removepkg (as root).