install tar files

Paul O'Malley ompaul at eircom.net
Tue Aug 9 09:09:41 UTC 2005


guido dom wrote:

> Hello
> Can I get any info on installing  zipped tar files (like OOo 1.1.4
> tar) in ubuntu lease?


Hi Guido,

Installation for applications should be done via apt-get, aptitude or
Synaptic.
This allows the local software that keeps programs current work, if you
use any other method then you _can_ end up with problems. The same goes
for kernels, the latest and greatest should not be used unless you
absolutely need some functionality that the new kernel provides.

Using random software which has not been build for your distribution may
break some functionality and can cause you to have a very frustrating
time. My advice is simple, unless you understand exactly what you are
doing, don't use software that has not been set up for your distribution.

If you want to learn this stuff in I would suggest partitioning off a
section of your hard drive and use it to create a second system within
which you can experiment and learn lots. Then if you break something it
is not a huge loss as your 'production' box is elsewhere on the same
machine.

What a lot of people do not realise when they first come to Linux is
that you can install from many sources.
With a file that is not available using the above formats, and comes in
a tar format I usually do the following.
Find an install document for it. If there is none available then it is
usual to run this command on it:

tar xvf foo.tar

This will open the tar file and extract its contents onto the hard drive
in the local directory.
use
tar xvfz 
for foo.tar.gz

use
tar xvfj
for foo.tar.bz2

Regards,

Paul O'Malley















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