Installing software without Ubuntu Software Center

Question

I have a file downloaded from the Internet.

To be specific I downloaded Code::Blocks from its official site. The file name is codeblocks.tar.bz2.

If I don't have Internet connection and also Ubuntu Software Center is not working, how do I install the software?

I think I will have to use terminal but I am not used to with terminal. So please make it as simple as possible.

Answer 1

In codeblocks download section there are three options available.

• Binaries
• Source
• SVN

Binaries

If you downloaded the package from Binaries section then your file will be something like this "codeblocks-10.05-1-debian-i386.tar.bz2"

• untar the package file
  

  lbzip2 -d codeblocks-10.05-1-debian-i386.tar.bz2
tar xvf codeblocks-10.05-1-debian-i386.tar
  

  or

  tar xvjf codeblocks-10.05-1-debian-i386.tar.bz2

  Then use dpkg -i package_name.deb or dpkg -i *.deb to install the package. Make sure you run the deb in proper order to avoid dependencies.

Source

Download the file, sample: codeblocks-10.05-1debian-src.tar.bz2 and untar it the same way how it is done for binaries.

./configure 
make
make install

make sure you have installed build-essential before trying the above steps.

SVN

You need install SVN package before proceeding the following steps.

Code base is at repository: http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/codeblocks/trunk

Checkout the code using command svn checkout http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/codeblocks/trunk. (This step needs internet connection.)

Read the README & README.debian for instructions on how to install without internet-access

Answer 2

There's a step-by-step tutorial on the Codeblocks wiki for installing it on Ubuntu: Installing Code::Blocks nightly build on Ubuntu

If you aren't required to use Codeblocks, then perhaps you should try a more easily-installed C++ editor, such as Geany, which you can find in the Software Center or by typing (in the terminal):

sudo apt-get install geany

Geany is pretty nice as editors go. If you don't have Internet access, make sure to follow the steps to add the Ubuntu installation DVD/CD as a package source: Installing software packages without an Internet connection

Answer 3

You've probably downloaded a source tarball. Usually what that means is that you have to install libraries/utilities that are required to the compilation of your software and then configure, build and install the compiled program.

There's no single way to do that, usually when you unpack your tarball, there's either a README* or INSTALL* file that describes what needs to be done to install it. It's fairly common to just:

./configure --prefix=/opt/myapp
make
make install

There's a drawback to this method - you'll end up with files installed completely outside of your package management system that your PMS has no idea about and cannot manage. It's usually fine for temporary testing and if you know what you're doing and keep files installed in such a way in a separate directory.

You said you're not used to working in the terminal - unfortunately working in the terminal is the least complicated part of compiling programs from scratch.

You might want to find your application among packages already available to Ubuntu and download the Ubuntu distribution on the DVD and then use apt-cdrom to add it as a source of available packages.

PS. if what you've downloaded is an already built application, you can view the contents using:

tar tjf program.tar.bz2

and

tar xjf program.tar.bz2

but you have to be sure that you know what you're running. I'd look for the way to run your application in one of the files within that archive.