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I'm new to Ubuntu and I want to know how to install a program which is compressed in the format tar.bz2 or tar.gz.I downloaded an app called Prozilla and it was compressed.I extracted it and it exists on my desktop with the name prozilla-1.21.1.My Username is Bolt (For e.g.). Please give me the necessary commands to be typed in Terminal to install it .

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    As a beginnner to Ubuntu you should - whenever possible - refrain from installing applications outside of the package management.
    – Takkat
    Sep 23, 2013 at 8:00
  • Prozilla can be installed through a PPA. This is much simpler than building from source.
    – To Do
    Sep 23, 2013 at 8:39
  • If you just want a good download accelerator, there is a Firefox extension called "DownloadThemAll!" which does an excellent job.
    – To Do
    Sep 23, 2013 at 8:41

2 Answers 2

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In the general case (I am not specifically referring to Prozilla), a file with a .tar.gz extension will contain the source code for the application. This means you will need to compile and install the application. Instructions for doing this are usually included in a README or INSTALL file in the archive, or on the web site of the author of the software.

For a newcomer I would advise against installing software from source. It usually is a hassle, if you get it to work at all. If you're unlucky, it will destabilise your system, or break upgrades. If the software is any good, then the odds are high that someone has packaged it already for Debian / Ubuntu. Prefer the packages you find through the package manager.

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By default, Ubuntu does not come with the tools required. You need to install the package build-essential for making the package and checkinstall for putting it into your package manager. These can be found on the install CD or in the repositories, searching in Synaptic Package Manager or the command-line apt-get:

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall

Now open the terminal and change to directory of the extracted files where the source is there.(it should be named as SRC mostly ) by using
cd path/to/source
Now type
./configure
After that type:
make
Now type:
make install
That should install your program.

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