Desktop Installs

[Brian McKee]

Tom wrote:
> I cannot install programs from the desktop environment. I download to
> the desks top and unzip the programs (mostly tar.gz) and it creates a
> folder on the desktop w/ install file in it. I then go to terminal and
> do the sudo apt-get install and the install builds a directory tree then
> gives error message: couldn't find package or file. I was working from
> the tom at tom-desktop$ prompt. What am I not doing right??


Hi Tom,

	Let's backtrack a little bit here.  You may know this, but it's worth
double checking.

	As a general rule,  unless you have good reason to do otherwise,  use
Synaptic/Add-Remove Software/aptitude/apt-get to install software.  This
gets you software designed for your machine, and makes sure you have all
the required prerequisites in place to run it.

	If there's a cool piece of software you've seen, then do a search in
Synaptic or with aptitude/apt-get and see if it's there.  If it is, then
apt-get install 'package name' or installing it via Synaptic will
download it for you - you don't need to download or unzip anything by hand.

	Now,  if you *have* to install something that isn't available that way,
 then you might download those tar balls.   Unpack it, open a terminal
and 'cd' inside it, and find the README or INSTALL file and see what it
tells you to do.  It won't be 'apt' anything - apt works with software
in your sources list, not stuff you download manually.

	Usually tarballs like that are the program source code, not a built
program.  Often (but not always) you do something like './configure &&
make && sudo make install' to build and install the program.   You'll
have to figure out on your own what you need installed before you can
build the new software.   Usually the mailing list of the project
involved is a good place to start if you run into problems.

	If you build software by hand like that,  then you've gone outside of
the whole apt system.  It won't be updated automatically,  it might
conflict with something from Ubuntu, and it might not work on your
system.   I'm not saying don't do it - I'm saying buyer beware, and make
sure you can't just use the built in tools to do what you want, first.

HTH,

Brian

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