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In order to install programs on Ubuntu, I keep seeing these instructions:

tar -xzf archive-name.tar.gz
cd archive-name
./configure
make
sudo make install

However, this is always the result (terminal and the folder on my screen):

My Screenshot

Obviously, I did something wrong. Can anyone tell me what? This is the software I'm trying to install.

I mixed a couple of suggestions together, and none worked. Below is the result: enter image description here

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15
  • Can you do ls and paste the output in your question?
    – edwinksl
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:22
  • jonesy@jonesy-K53E:~/Downloads/parcel-tracker$ ls AUTHORS data parcel_tracker po bin debian parcel-tracker.desktop.in setup.py COPYING help parcel_tracker_lib tests
    – Citizen Jonesy
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:32
  • Sorry. Tried to space it out...didn't quite work...
    – Citizen Jonesy
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:34
  • why don't you read the help file? EDIT: I mean post
    – spacelander
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:37
  • 1
    The usual way to run Python setup.py files is [sudo] python setup.py install, but use @Zacharee1's answer now.
    – grooveplex
    Jun 1, 2016 at 8:10

4 Answers 4

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6

I kind of hate to tell you this, since you've done so much work and all, but that's a Launchpad page and it has a PPA. A PPA is sort of an index of packages Ubuntu can use to download and install what is requested. If you add that PPA, you can just install parcel-tracker with a simple command in the terminal.

Run the below commands to install parcel-tracker:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:torkvemada/torkvemada
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install parcel-tracker

Confirm any prompts you get.

I think that's it. The package does have a version for Ubuntu 16.04, so I don't think you'll run into any errors.

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As an oversimplification, the configure script and make have been typically shipped with C/C++ or Fortan source code . configure scripts are generally used to setup compile options and ensure that dependencies are present. automake is typically used to compile the code and install the binaries in system locations.

hence, if you download source code for an application and the developer uses configure and make to build the application, then you will need to do the same. sometimes, applications are distributed as binaries (precompiled). those won't ship with configure and make. also, java applications typically don't use configure and make. so it depends on the build tools that the developer chose when they wrote the application.

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3
  • If it didn't come with configure and make, then how do you install it? I thought that was the purpose of those...
    – Citizen Jonesy
    Jun 1, 2016 at 1:23
  • some don't come with "install" scripts/tools. you can just run them from wherever you extract the archive or you can move it yourself to the system location you deem appropriate. e.g. /opt
    – Iyad K
    Jun 1, 2016 at 1:27
  • I did, in fact, use /opt, My messgenger for desktop was there. Once there, how do I access the program?
    – Citizen Jonesy
    Jun 1, 2016 at 1:36
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Execute

autoreconf -vfi

inside your extracted source root directory. This will generate a configure file specific to your system, that you can execute afterwards. Make sure it is executable for you, e. g.:

chmod u+x configure

then

./configure

should work.

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-1

Not all tar archives have ./configure files. I wanted to install Eclipse a while ago and it doesn't have one. I instead ran an alternate windows version through wine (though this is not preferable, it worked). Do a little research on the software and see if it does have a configure file. Sometimes it could be called ./config.

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