How to install .tar.gz (tarball) files in Linux/Unix

tar.gz also known as tarball, an archive format for electronic data and software. Most Linux tarball contains a source code for software. If you are new to Linux I recommend using apt-get, rpm and yum command to install all binary packages.

Tarball are a group of files in one file. Tarball files have the extension .tar.gz, .tgz or .tar.bz2. Most open source software use tarball to distribute programs/source codes.

1: Uncompress tarball -

      To uncompress them, execute the following command(s) depending on the extension: 

$ tar zxf file.tar.gz
$ tar zxf file.tgz
$ tar jxf file.tar.bz2
$ tar jxf file.tbz2
 

Now change directory

$ ls
$ cd path-to-software/

2: Build and install software - 

                      Generally you need to type 3 commands as follows for building and compiling software…

# ./configure
# make
# make install

Where,

• ./configure will configure the software to ensure your system has the necessary functionality and libraries to successfully compile the package
• Make will compile all the source files into executable binaries.
• Finally, make install will install the binaries and any supporting files into the appropriate locations.

3: Read INSTALL / README file - 
         

                 Each tarball comes with installation and build instructions. Open INSTALL or README file for more information:

$ vi INSTALL